Reps Ocasio-Cortez and Pressley Push for $50,000 Student Debt After Biden Fails to Support It on CNN
Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) ignited a push for the federal government to cancel $50,000 student debt after President Biden failed to back the measure during a CNN town hall.
President Biden ignited a reaction following his response to a question about student debt forgiveness.
When asked if he would cancel student loan debt up to $50,000, Biden responded, “I will not make that happen,” but said he was willing to “write off” up to $10,000 well short of the higher number.
From the Biden town hall on CNN last night, this questioner asked about canceling $50,000 worth of student debt:
“What will you do to make that happen?”
“I will not make that happen.” pic.twitter.com/Y7auUT2YQZ— The Recount (@therecount) February 17, 2021
Ocasio-Cortez appeared to not be happy with the lower number.
She used class warfare to justify the $50,000 target.
Average student loan debt in the US is ~$30k (LOTS have more)
Many won’t fully feel $10k in forgiveness until after a Biden presidency is over, when they’ve spent 10 years paying off the other $20k+
Dems should be championing policy that people can feel ASAP. We need to go big.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 17, 2021
Pressley took a different angle to push for the higher number.
She used the race card to advance her argument for the $50,000 level where she emphasized the benefit to black women.
You want to thank Black women?
Cancel student debt — all of it.
Black women carry more student debt than any other group in America.
Save your words of appreciation. Policy is our love language.
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) January 19, 2021
The push for $50,000 student debt forgiveness also hit state officials.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is leading an effort with other state attorney generals to cancel student debt.
I am leading a letter with 16 other AGs to urge President Biden to take executive action and cancel up to $50,000 in federal student debt.
For years, we have fought for struggling student borrowers —how much longer do they need to wait to get the relief they deserve? pic.twitter.com/5BiGbQdC7O
— Maura Healey (@MassAGO) February 19, 2021
Biden was also criticized on social media for failing to endorse the idea of eliminating student debt up to $50,000.
Canceling $50,000 of student loan debt would help 36 million people — especially women and people of color.
But President Biden dismissed the idea, again: https://t.co/sICQgF6TGt pic.twitter.com/ic72u7Emd5
— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 19, 2021
Biden has clear legal authority to cancel student debt. "Not doing this is a choice." https://t.co/6XinzEtim3
— Truthout (@truthout) February 18, 2021
Democracy Now discussed Biden and student debt.
By campaigning for canceling student debt, Biden opened the door for far-left Democrats to push the dollar amount to a higher level.
The U.S. is already saddled with additional trillions of dollars of debt because of the pandemic and getting rid of student loan debt at $50,000 would cost another trillion.
In addition to the cost, eliminating student loans is unfair to those who took out student loans over the years and worked hard to pay them off.
The perverse incentive of such a plan on student debt is that the government will bail individuals out for their personal decisions.
