Washington (CNN) Congress tried to make it easier for borrowers to apply for federal student loan debt forgiveness, but almost everyone who's applied has been rejected, according to a government report released Thursday.

The Education Department denied 99% of requests for relief processed under the newly expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, according to a review by the Government Accountability Office released Thursday.

Only 661 applications were approved while 53,523 were denied during the first 12 months after the fix was put in place.

The program -- which allows borrowers who work in the public sector, like teachers and social workers -- to apply for debt cancellation after making 10 years' worth of payments, was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007. But the first time anyone would have made enough payments to qualify was the fall of 2017, under the Trump administration.

Congress set aside $700 million to expand the program in 2018 to address the low number of people qualifying for forgiveness, but the new report shows that fix hasn't had the desired results.

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