Warren and Schumer keep pressure on Biden to cancel student debt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Democrats are celebrating the passage of the American Rescue Plan as a win for Americans and now beginning to look forward to an infrastructure-spending bill. That leaves another major agenda item from the 2020 campaign not on the legislative agenda: canceling student debt.

Since President Joe Biden took office in January, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren have been urging him to take action to cancel up to $50,000 in student-loan debt per person. Along with other progressive lawmakers, they have said Biden has the executive authority to do so without legislation from Congress, but he's said he doesn't believe he has that authority. Biden campaigned on canceling up to $10,000 a person and has said he's still open to doing so.

In a press call on Monday, Schumer said that if Biden could cancel $10,000 in student debt, there was no reason he couldn't cancel $50,000.

"If it's OK legally to do a small amount, it's OK legally to do a larger amount," Schumer said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/warren-and-schumer-keep-pressure-on-biden-to-cancel-student-debt/ar-BB1eDPSO?li=BBnb7Kz

[W_HAMILTON]

1. I imagine the issue is potential blowback for unilaterally canceling 50k...

...which is probably why Biden has called on Congress to pass a bill regarding the matter, which means everyone would have some skin in the game.

Like it or not, even though lots of people have student loans, if Biden unilaterally canceled 50k in student loan debt, the Republicans would have a field day with it, talking about how Biden is favoring the rich and elite, blah blah blah. And their attacks would probably stick for poorer and less educated voters, which include even some Democratic voters. He'd also get attacked from a segment that didn't need student loans or paid off their student loans, etc.

I think Biden should have probably just canceled 10k for everyone (like he campaigned on) around the time the ARP passed; it would have blunted some of the attention it would draw and if anyone tried to claim that he was showing favoritism towards a certain class of people, he could just respond that it was all part of COVID relief to help Americans any way that he could.

[lagomorph777]

2. I don't think most Americans over 40 understand what the GQP has done to education financing.

It's catastrophically worse than in my day. I had $10k debt for 4 years education. Today, an education in any field that will actually earn a living is many times higher than that.

[mopinko]

4. and all the while

colleges are raising tuition while cutting costs.

[lagomorph777]

6. Yup.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. Cancel it all.

[whistler162]

5. Where is the bill?

especially the one that doesn't penalize the debtors on the income taxes for the forgiveness.

[OneGrassRoot]

7. That aspect was covered...

in the COVID bill Biden signed. Makes me hopeful about something being done sooner rather than later re forgiveness.

[Johnny2X2X]

8. 5% Pay as you earn option (PAYE) PLEASE!

During the campaign, Biden had on his website his proposal to reduce the pay as you earn option for student loans from 10% of adjusted income to 5%. This would halve people's payments.

The current PAYE program is 10% of your gross income less 1.5 times the poverty rate. So if you make $50K a year, the poverty income is $13,000 a year, 1.5 times that is $19K, so you pay $31,000 * .1 in payments per year. $3100 a year or $258.33 a month. There is total forgiveness after 20 years for undergrad and 25 years for graduate on whatever amount remains. Halving that to $130 a month would be life changing for millions. Instead of an extra car payment, it would be an extra cable bill.

And what's more, he was talking about the poverty deduction being raised from 1.5 times to 2 times. So it would be reduced further.

Do this along with a smaller forgiveness and you've just solved the student debt crisis.

If you're a higher wage earner, say $100K, you're still talking about much more reasonable payments under the new plan. $363 or less vs $725 a month.

I mention tis in every student loan thread, I want someone to ask Biden what happened to this plan, it was on his campaign website as his own plan.

[MichMan]

9. Where are the plans to reduce the costs of college in the first place?

Once we forgive current loans, are colleges going to raise tuition even higher, with the expectation those debts will someday be forgiven too?

[WarGamer]

11. BINGO.

[WarGamer]

10. Public resistance might be immense.

If you give ONE PERSON $10,000 to pay off their student loan, you really need to give $10k to everyone.

How about people who just paid off their loans after living in a shoebox and eating Ramen the last 3 years?

How about people who paid cash, working their way through college?

Or the people who went to CC and a State U because they couldn't afford a high end school?

They need to think of something... maybe a 10k credit (plus interest) to your future SS disbursement in lieu of Student Loan relief?

There will be MASSIVE resistance if it only helps those who took loans and were unable to pay. That's the way mid-terms are lost.