Top Senate Democrats pushed back on President Biden over his stance on student loan forgiveness.
In a Tuesday evening town hall on CNN, the president said he was supportive of canceling $10,000 worth of student loans per person but not $50,000, and the comment has ruffled feathers from some within his own party.
“Presidents Obama and Trump used their executive authority to cancel student loan debt,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a statement. “The Biden administration has said it is reviewing options for cancelling up to $50,000 in student debt by executive action, and we are confident they will agree with the standards Obama and Trump used as well as leading legal experts who have concluded that the administration has broad authority to immediately deliver much-needed relief to millions of Americans.”
Schumer and Warren argued that relieving $50,000 in student debt per person would heal racial divides and stimulate the economy.
“An ocean of student loan debt is holding back 43 million borrowers and disproportionately weighing down Black and Brown Americans. Cancelling $50,000 in federal student loan debt will help close the racial wealth gap, benefit the 40% of borrowers who do not have a college degree, and help stimulate the economy,” they said. “It’s time to act. We will keep fighting.”
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also pushed back on Biden’s stance during the town hall.
“The case against student loan forgiveness is looking shakier by the day,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Tuesday night. “We’ve got the *Senate Majority Leader* on board to forgive $50k. Biden’s holding back, but many of the arguments against it just don’t hold water on close inspection. We can and should do it. Keep pushing!”
The Democrats’ reactions were prompted when a participant of the town hall asked the president what he would do to ensure a $50,000 minimum, which Biden said he will “not make … happen.”
“It depends on whether or not you go to a private university or a public university,” Biden said, arguing that loans should not be forgiven for those who attended elite universities such as “Harvard and Yale and [the University of Pennsylvania].”
The president reiterated that he supports making community college tuition-free.
New – Biden completely rejects Schumer/Warren proposal to cancel $50K of student loan debt per borrower:
“I will not make that happen.”
Says he doesn’t want to forgive debts of borrowers from elite schools — and money would be better spent on early childhood education. pic.twitter.com/oDwvCJveOm
— Michael Stratford (@mstratford) February 17, 2021
On Feb. 4, Schumer and Warren, along with Rep. Ayanna Pressley, pushed Biden to forgive $50,000 in student debt via executive action.
“Democrats are committed to big, bold action, and this resolution to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt is one of the strongest steps the president can take to achieve these goals,” Schumer said in the Democrats’ statement, asking Biden to use “existing authority under the Higher Education Act” to cancel the federal debts.
Some opponents of student debt forgiveness echo Biden’s stance that the proposal benefits those in higher income brackets. A report from the Federal Reserve released in September 2020 found that the majority of student loan debt, roughly 60%, is held by the top 40% of income earners, who account for about three-quarters of all loan payments. The lowest-income earners hold less than 20% of all federal student loan debt by comparison.
Others argue that the indebted knowingly assumed debt, and the money earmarked for student loan forgiveness would be better served elsewhere.
“Why should we as a nation choose to assist former students in paying off the debt they agreed to?” Bruce Yandle, dean emeritus of Clemson University’s College of Business and Behavioral Science, wrote in a Washington Examiner op-ed. “How is that preferable to assisting those who are losing possession of the wheels that get them to work each day or that enable them to perform the duties of a blue-collar job because they can’t handle their pickup truck debt?”
