NEWS: Sanders, Jayapal and Colleagues Introduce College for All Act

[Donkees]

NEWS: Sanders, Jayapal and Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Make College Tuition-Free and Debt-Free for Working Families

April 21, 2021

WASHINGTON, April 21 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) Wednesday introduced the College for All Act to open up the dream of a college degree to millions of working-class children. The legislation would make the most substantial federal investment in higher education in the modern history of the United States and its transformative potential is on par with President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Higher Education Act of 1965.

While the Biden Administration reviews how much student debt the president can cancel without Congress, the College for All Act will end the debt spiral in which too many working families find themselves. The bill is modeled directly after the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force proposal and the Plan for Education Beyond High School that President Biden campaigned on.

“In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, a higher education should be a right for all, not a privilege for the few,” Sen. Sanders said. “If we are going to have the kind of standard of living that the American people deserve, we need to have the best educated workforce in the world. It is absolutely unacceptable that hundreds of thousands of bright young Americans do not get a higher education each year, not because they are unqualified, but because their family does not have enough money. In the 21st century, a free public education system that goes from kindergarten through high school is no longer good enough. The time is long overdue to make public colleges and universities tuition-free and debt-free for working families.”

“While President Biden can and should immediately cancel student debt for millions of borrowers, Congress must ensure that working families never have to take out these crushing loans to receive a higher education in the first place,” Rep. Jayapal said. “The College for All Act will free students from a lifetime of debt, invest in working people, and transform higher education across America by making community college free for everyone and eliminating tuition and fees at public colleges and universities for families making up to $125,000.”

The College for All Act is paid for by the Tax on Wall Street Speculation Act, also being reintroduced today by Sen. Sanders, that puts a tax of 0.5% on stock trades, a 0.1% fee on bonds, and a 0.005% fee on derivatives. The tax would raise up to $2.4 trillion over the next decade. Rep. Barbara Lee will be reintroducing the companion for the tax legislation in the House of Representatives.

The bill is cosponsored in the Senate by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and endorsed by more than 100 organizations.

https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-jayapal-and-colleagues-introduce-legislation-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free-for-working-families/

[Hortensis]

1. Yes, and the Biden administration wants all public institutions tuition-free for

people below a $125K tuition cap and forgive some student loan debt. And of course to heavily invest in early childhood education and potential from different direcctions. Democrats in congress are focused on achieving real improvements to and advances in education during this term and the next

We're going to do it. Maybe not as much this time as we would if more people had voted, but still. The 2022 midterms are a chance to get back our power majority in the house and build it in the senate.

[GregariousGroundhog]

2. I like the objective, but not the funding

My gut feeling is that this will eat into 401(k) returns of middle class families. Index funds usually rebalance quarterly, semi-annually, or annually, and every time they do it will have a net drag on returns in our retirement accounts.

I'd much rather capital gains should be taxed at the same rate as earned income (when not in a tax-sheltered 401(k)) and/or the marginal tax rate be increased in the upper brackets

[Carlitos Brigante]

3. K&R! nt