CULVER CITY (CNS) - President Joe Biden will conclude a roughly 24- hour Southland visit Wednesday by visiting a library in Culver City, where he is expected to tout what his administration is calling significant progress in the effort to forgive billions of dollars in student loan debt.
Early Wednesday, the administration announced the approval of $1.2 billion in debt cancellation for 153,000 student loan borrowers enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, repayment plan. According to the White House, the move means the administration has now authorized nearly $138 billion in student debt cancellation, affecting almost 3.9 million borrowers.
The latest action for SAVE plan members impacts borrowers who have been making payments for at least 10 years and borrowed $12,000 or less.
According to the White House, the forgiveness of the SAVE loans occurred six months ahead of schedule.
Biden is expected to discuss the forgiveness effort during an early afternoon visit to a Culver City library. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is among those expected to attend.
Bass joined Biden late Wednesday morning to ride in the presidential motorcade to Culver City. Along the way, they made an unscheduled stop just before noon at CJ's Cafe, a small Mexican food restaurant in a Baldwin Hills strip mall on La Brea Avenue.
The president and Bass shook hands and chatted with customers, and Biden took photos with some people at the eatery before the pair got back into the motorcade and made their way to the Culver City event.
Overland Avenue was closed between Jefferson and Culver boulevards to accommodate the presidential visit. The road is expected to reopen at 3 p.m., according to Culver City officials.
Following his early afternoon speech in Culver City, Biden will fly to San Francisco, where he has additional fundraisers planned.
Biden on Wednesday morning also issued an executive order regarding security at nation's ports and additional actions to strengthen maritime cybersecurity, fortify supply chains and strengthen the United States industrial base.
The executive order includes an intent to bring domestic onshore manufacturing capacity back to America to provide safe, secure cranes to U.S. ports -- the result of a more than $20 billion investment in U.S. port infrastructure under Biden's Investing in America Agenda, according to the White House.
Biden arrived in Los Angeles Tuesday. Air Force One touched down at Los Angeles International Airport at about 3:30 p.m. with Biden greeted by Bass and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles.
Although the president normally travels from LAX to Santa Monica via helicopter, he was driven in a motorcade Tuesday, prompting a full shutdown of the northbound San Diego (405) Freeway from Westchester through West Los Angeles at the onset of the evening rush hour.
Biden spoke for 17 minutes at a fundraiser at the home of Israeli American media mogul Haim Saban in the gated Beverly Park community, near Mulholland Drive.
Saban and fellow host Casey Wasserman, a sports management executive and chairman of the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympics, were both listed as hosts for the event, but were unable to attend after testing positive for COVID-19.
Biden made comments similar to recent fundraisers, touting his achievements, including reducing cost of insulin and protecting and strengthening the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as "Obamacare," repeating his call for billionaires to be taxed at 28% and vowing to make Roe v. Wade the "law of the land."
Biden also criticized Republicans in general and former President Donald Trump, the party's likely 2024 presidential nominee, in specific, declaring, "Time and again Republicans show they are a party of chaos and disunity. They shout about problems but offer nothing. They have no platform.
"Are they here to solve problems or just weaponize them for political attacks? I'm here to serve the people."
Tickets for the Tuesday event ranged from $3,300 to $250,000, with those donating at least $25,000 getting to take a picture with Biden, according to the entertainment news website Deadline.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Biden Victory Fund, which supports his reelection campaign, and the Democratic National Committee.
Earlier Tuesday, the Biden-Harris campaign announced it had raised more than $42 million in January and reported it had $130 million in cash on hand, what it called "the largest for any Democratic ticket in history at this point in the cycle."