Democrats Already Pressuring Joe Biden to Forgive Student Loan Debt

Democrats Already Pressuring Joe Biden to Forgive Student Loan Debt

The election has not yet been certified, but Democrats are already making it clear what they intend to do if and when Biden is declared the winner.

Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, AOC, and other Democrats are pressuring Biden to forgive student debt through executive order.

Lucas Manfredi writes at FOX Business:

Progressives ramp up pressure on President-elect Joe Biden to forgive student loan debt

As President-elect Joe Biden is preparing for his transition to the White House in January, progressives in the Democratic party are ramping up pressure on the former vice president to forgive student loan debt once he takes office.

“Student loan forgiveness is good, actually,” Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Monday. “We should also push for tuition-free public colleges to avoid this huge debt bubble from financially decimating people every generation.”

She argued it is “one of the easiest progressive policies to ‘pay for,’ with multiple avenues from a Wall St transaction tax to an ultra-wealth tax to cover it.”

Ocasio-Cortez isn’t the only one calling for student loan forgiveness.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced a resolution back in September, in which they urged the next president to use executive authority through the Higher Education Act to “deliver meaningful relief to struggling Americans and broadly cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt.”

We should also push for tuition-free public colleges to avoid this huge debt bubble from financially decimating ppl every generation. It’s one of the easiest progressive policies to “pay for,” w/ multiple avenues from a Wall St transaction tax to an ultra-wealth tax to cover it.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 16, 2020

1. Biden-Harris can cancel billions of dollars in student loan debt, giving tens of millions of Americans an immediate financial boost and helping to close the racial wealth gap. This is the single most effective executive action available for a massive economic stimulus.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 12, 2020

There is already plenty of push back on this idea:

How about this: instead of forgiving everybody's college debt, we force all the colleges who scammed millions of Americans into degrees in Useless Theory Masquerading As Valuable Life Skills to grant refunds. That would end the grift right quick.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 16, 2020

The college debt “forgiveness” Biden’s team is planning is just paying off mostly white lib voters from 3rd tier colleges with worthless humanities degrees

It’s a transfer of wealth from welders, plumbers, and general contractors to adjunct professors and MSNBC watchers

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) November 16, 2020

It would benefit me personally but I'm staunchly AGAINST it because it's a huge slap in the face to people who worked and saved to pay for college instead of taking out loans. https://t.co/l8Xo9z5k3l

— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) November 17, 2020

I think Dems are wildly underestimating the intensity of anger college loan cancelation is going to provoke. Those with college debt will be thrilled, of course. But lots and lots of people who didn't go to college or who worked to pay off their debts? Gonna be bad. https://t.co/SCxdIekT0P

— Damon Linker (@DamonLinker) November 16, 2020

So if the latest plan is to #CancelStudentDebt does that mean those that have already paid off their student debt are given a reimbursement check?

— Nick Short 🇺🇸 (@PoliticalShort) November 16, 2020

No, no it’s not. Student loan forgiveness conditions people to believe that they don’t have to take responsibility for their decisions.

It’s this culture of a lack of responsibly that leads to broken families, rising crime, and financial peril.

No, @AOC.

— Errol Webber For Governor (@ErrolWebber) November 16, 2020

https://twitter.com/PartymanRandy/status/1328524697533870081

I didn’t take out student loans, but I should be forced to repay the debt of others. It is absolutely unreal. https://t.co/4ZxrTF9ywI

— Bonnie (@BonShores) November 17, 2020

Robert Verbruggen writes at National Review:

Forgiving Student Debt Is (Still) a Dumb Idea

Some on the left, perhaps most prominently senators Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, have encouraged Joe Biden to forgive loads of student debt via executive order. I’ve written numerous times about how bad of an idea this is, most extensively in a print piece last year, but here’s a brief overview.

Basically, the student-debt “crisis” is nowhere near as bad as some like to pretend: Most borrowers pay a small share of their income toward their loans, and borrowers who get into trouble can already have their loans delayed or forgiven through various programs. The folks this system neglects are not people with huge debt burdens — who tend to make high incomes and are exceedingly well-covered by existing forgiveness programs anyway — but those with smaller debts, particularly those who didn’t finish college.

Forgiving debt for everyone is a poorly targeted policy no matter how you look at it. It helps the wealthy more than the poor, it’s not fair to people who paid off their debts early, and it’s not a good way to stimulate the economy during COVID. (As the center-left economist Jason Furman points out, the forgiven debt would be taxed, which would cut into any immediate economic effect.)

Colleges and universities should have some skin in this game, but if the higher education implosion continues due to lower enrollment and the pandemic, expect Democrats to ride to their rescue in more ways than one.

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.