Dems Challenge Biden on student debt cancellation
President Joe Biden’s blunt proclamation this week that he will not seek to write off $ 50,000 in student loan debt has sparked some frustration within his own party.
What would you like to know
- President Joe Biden’s blunt proclamation this week that he will not seek to write off $ 50,000 in student loan debt has sparked some frustration within his own party
- The White House clarified that Biden “is not in favor of $ 50,000 unlimited student loan relief” and said he would seek a Justice Department review of his power to rescind the debt.
- But the senses Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren said they thought it was clear that Biden had the power to write off up to $ 50,000 in student debt through an executive order and called on him to to do.
- Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressed frustration on Twitter Wednesday over Biden’s comments
At CNN town hall Tuesday night in Milwaukee, a woman asked Biden what he would do to write off at least $ 50,000 per person in student loans.
“I won’t make it,” Biden said.
The president explained that he was concerned about giving Ivy League graduates a financial break when that money could be better spent on providing early education for underprivileged children.
Biden said he supports $ 10,000 in loan forgiveness, a free community college for all, and free tuition at public universities for students whose families earn less than $ 125,000 a year.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that Biden “is not promoting $ 50,000 in full student loan relief.” She said the president believed any loan forgiveness over $ 10,000 should be targeted “based on the borrower’s income, based on the type of debt in question, public schools versus private schools, schools higher than the first cycle – there are obviously a lot of considerations involved. “
Psaki said Biden would ask his Justice Department to conduct a legal review of his authority to act on student debt cancellation through executive action. His choice for Attorney General Merrick Garland has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.
Corn in a joint statement WednesdaySenators Chuck Schumer of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, both Democrats, said they believed it was clear that Biden had the power to write off up to $ 50,000 in student debt through ‘a decree and called him to do so.
“Presidents Obama and Trump have used their executive power to write off student debt,” Senators said. the standards Obama and Trump used as well as leading legal experts who concluded the administration had broad powers to immediately provide much-needed aid to millions of Americans.
Schumer and Warren said a “sea of student loan debt is holding back 43 million borrowers and weighing disproportionately on black and brown Americans.” Debt cancellation would help close the racial wealth gap and boost the economy, they argued.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) expressed frustration at Biden’s comments on Wednesday.
“1. Who cares what school someone went to?” she tweeted. “Whole generations of working class children have been encouraged to take on more debt under the guise of elitism. It’s wrong.
“2. Nowhere does it say we must trade early childhood education for student loan cancellation. We can have both.
Ocasio-Cortez said many people won’t even feel $ 10,000 in debt relief until Biden is removed from office and urged Democrats to “go big.”
“The case against the cancellation of student loans seems more fragile every day,” she wrote.
“We have the * Senate Majority Leader * on board to forgive $ 50,000. Biden is holding back, but many of the arguments against it just don’t hold water after close inspection. “