Associated Press

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Up to 5 million Americans struggling to make their monthly student-loan payments could find relief under a program President Barack Obama expanded Monday, part of an election-year push by Democrats to paint Republicans as blocking common-sense steps that could help the middle class.

Dubbing it a “no-brainer,” Obama also threw his support behind legislation to let some of those same borrowers refinance their student loans at lower rates, in a move the administration said could save 25 million borrowers up to $2,000 over the life of their loans.

With a group of student-loan borrowers looking on, Obama put his pen to a presidential memorandum that will allow those who borrowed through the federal government before 2007 to pay no more than 10 percent of their income in monthly payments. Existing programs created by Congress and Obama already offer that benefit to recent borrowers; Obama’s memo will make it fully retroactive.

How much borrowers could save under Obama’s expansion depends on an array of factors, including income and the size of the loan. But under one possible scenario, an unmarried individual who borrowed $100,000 to pay for college and makes $30,000 a year could see the monthly payment drop from more than $1,000 a month to just a few hundred dollars.