Washington DC - President Joe Biden announced Thursday a student debt relief package for public servants amounting to around $4.5 billion, with just over two weeks to go until the presidential election.

The action affects about 60,000 borrowers across the country, said the White House, touting Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris's efforts to improve loan forgiveness since taking office. It takes the total number of Americans who have had their student debt waived to over one million.

The announcement comes as households feel the weight of higher costs of living since the Covid-19 pandemic, with voters citing the economy as a crucial concern in an election pitting Harris against Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Biden said in a statement that with the latest move, more than one million people have had their debt cancelled under Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

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The promise of the program – supporting teachers, nurses, and others – involved student debt forgiveness after 10 years of public service and 10 years of payments.

"But for too long, the government failed to live up to its commitments, and only 7,000 people had ever received forgiveness," Biden said.

"I will never stop working to make higher education affordable," he added.

Biden has embarked on efforts to cancel student debt for millions of Americans, after a student loan payment freeze instituted by Trump during the coronavirus pandemic. The Democrat has taken something of a piecemeal approach after the Supreme Court last year struck down his plan to waive some $400 billion owed to the government.

Americans hold $1.6 trillion in student loans, and some end up repaying them over decades as they start jobs and families.