Top officials from virtually every state in the country called on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to forgive the $1 billion in student debt racked by the nation’s disabled veterans.

“The Department of Education continues to require eligible veterans to take affirmative steps to secure the loan forgiveness that is their statutory right,” the letter signed by 47 of the country’s 50 state attorneys general says. “And the requirements imposed by the Department may prove insurmountable obstacles to relief for many eligible veterans due to the severe nature of their disabilities.”

It calls on DeVos’ department to develop a program that would automatically cancel student loans for 42,000 wounded warriors that are held by the US government.

The signatories — which include New York Attorney General Letitia James — argue the Education Department has the authority to automatically zero out the loans under bipartisan legislation passed by Congress in 2008 and signed by then-President George W. Bush.

Disabled veterans have struggled to pay the loans on time, government figures show. More than 25,000 of them have defaulted on their payments, a rate of almost 60 percent.

Less than a quarter of disabled veterans — 9,000 — have applied for debt relief so far, a tally the pols say inspired their call to make the debt relief automatic in the letter sent Friday.

In a statement, the Department of Education told Reuters: “While ‘automatic discharge’ may seem like a simple solution, there are long-term impacts we want all veterans to have the chance to consider before their loans are discharged.”

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