Biden is showcasing student loan relief efforts as he campaigns in California

President Joe Biden is putting the spotlight on his efforts to cancel billions of dollars in student debt as he ramps up his reelection campaign.

Biden, who is in the midst of a three-day campaign swing through California, announced on Wednesday that his administration is automatically canceling federal student loans for nearly 153,000 borrowers as part of a new repayment plan that offers a faster path to forgiveness.

The administration began sending email notifications on Wednesday to some of the borrowers who will benefit from what the White House has dubbed the SAVE program. The cancellations were originally scheduled to start in July, but last month the administration said it would be ready almost six months ahead of schedule, in February.

“Starting today, the first round of folks who are enrolled in our SAVE student loan repayment plan who have paid their loans for 10 years and borrowed $12,000 or less will have their debt cancelled,” Biden posted on social media Wednesday. “That’s 150,000 Americans and counting. And we’re pushing to relieve more."

The first round of forgiveness from the SAVE plan will clear $1.2 billion in loans. The borrowers will get emails with a message from Biden notifying them that “all or a portion of your federal student loans will be forgiven because you qualify for early loan forgiveness under my Administration’s SAVE Plan.”

The president is expected to highlight the SAVE plan during a speech in Culver City, California, before heading to San Francisco later Wednesday for more campaign fundraising.

Biden in the email writes he has heard from “countless people who have told me that relieving the burden of their student loan debt will allow them to support themselves and their families, buy