Warren, Schumer introduce plan for next president to cancel $50,000 in student debt

[JonLP24]

Progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) introduced a plan Thursday calling for the next president of the United States to cancel up to $50,000 in debt for student loan borrowers in 2021.

"Broadly canceling student loan debt will improve the lives of tens of millions of Americans, give a boost to our economy during this pandemic and beyond and even help close the racial wealth gap," Warren said in a conference call with reporters.

"Our resolution outlines a bold plan for the president to use existing authority under law to cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt for all borrowers with federal loans," she said.

Warren argued that student debt disproportionately burdens Black and Latino students, especially women of color. She pointed out that Black borrowers often owe more on student debt 12 years after graduating than they originally borrowed.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/516974-warren-schumer-introduce-plan-for-next-president-to-cancel-50000-in-student?amp

[jorgevlorgan]

1. Good call

If we can take back the Senate, I can see Biden signing this.

[demtenjeep]

2. everyone?

we still owe 40 grand after 25 years...but that is 2 bachelor's and 2 master's

[bucolic_frolic]

3. They're motivating millennials to vote

but non-educated folks will call it elitism to help only the educated. I'd say they have a point.

[JonLP24]

5. I only have "some college" but I'm not against helping others beside myself

The some college was economics and I'm against all the tax breaks, subsidies, and corporate welfare for the wealthy. I think the money can be better spent on things like this and it will help the economy since college graduates earn more.

[blm]

11. ✔️

[kcr]

17. Do all people who resent others getting help have a point?

[bucolic_frolic]

23. That they didn't get theirs, and their taxes helped pay for it

I don't have any problem with halving payments and stretching them out over decades. If income goes way up, pay more, if not reassess the burden to adjust to income levels. But the argument we should jumpstart the economy by forgiving debt so these consumers can consume, without giving money to others who also pay taxes, to me is a little bit tone deaf. I'd like my insurance, real estate taxes reduced too, they are a burden on my lifestyle, and I agree to spend if you'll just forgive them. Students got a college education, now they get reduced costs so they can have new things in their lives? Where's mine?

[kcr]

26. For many it isn't about getting new things in life

It's about relief from being utterly financially ruined.

[bucolic_frolic]

27. Ok, but that was the justification used for the original proposal

utterly financially ruined? With a college degree, they have incomes. Work and pay debt, just like everyone else. The solution is to match debt repayment to income levels, to lighten the burden. It's also to figure out why college costs rose far faster than inflation, but that's another matter.

In the 70s it was thought a generational divide would occur between older social security recipients and youngsters who were asked to pay for it, because of cost of living increases. It proved to be a mild rift. This issue is similar, one group seeking government help while others not liking it very much. The issue separates uneducated older voters from the interests of younger educated ones. Government policy intervention creates winners and losers, and thus friction. The Democratic Party might not want to hang its hat too strongly on an issue that alienates significant portions of voters they claim to represent - working class, moderate incomes.

[kcr]

28. Yes. Financial ruin.

It is a crisis. There are plenty of informational resources about this.

The whole reason a generational divide hasn't persisted with SS is it is available to all. If the resentful who protested SS in the beginning got their way, we wouldn't have SS today.

[Le Roi de Pot]

4. Won't be popular among those who cut back to pay the loans back

I had 120 in loans .. It's down to 28 because I paid it faster.. I would feel robbed

[phylny]

7. I don't disagree.

Our daughters had no undergraduate debt because we paid for their educations. Their husbands all had debt. Our oldest daughter ended up paying off her husband's debt with him, and the other two are paying off their husbands' debts with them as well. Our youngest daughter is almost finished paying off her graduate school debt.

Each of them made significant sacrifices to do this and I think they, too, would feel that they busted their asses to pay off/pay down debt and missed the boat of having that debt paid off in full.

I'm not saying I'm against it, just that it's not equitable.

[LovingA2andMI]

14. Not Everyone is so Lucky....

That's the bottom line and this is an EXCELLENT proposal!

[phylny]

18. Define "lucky" and thanks!

[shanti]

8. If you were doing well enough to pay

your loans faster, then good for you. But don't deny this relief for people who aren't as lucky. Trump could've done this too, but he didn't.

[Le Roi de Pot]

20. How bout waiving all accrued interest and cutting interest rate to zero

That is more than fair .

[BSdetect]

29. Nobody force people to run up $150000 debt

And now those who paid their own way pay taxes for those who did.

This idea sucks.

Reduce interest of course, but paying a huge chunk of their debt is not reasonable at all.

[GReedDiamond]

9. Look at it this way...

...you don't have to pay back the remaining 28 grand.

That's better than nuthin.

My son had around 35 gs that he owed after graduating from art school.

He's been paying it back religiously, so he won't get the full benefit either, but if whatever he still owes is forgiven, it's still a plus.

[roamer65]

10. Yes. I want reimbursement of my paid off student loans.

If they forgive $50k, it should be considered taxable income just like mortgage forgiveness.

[LovingA2andMI]

13. That's Too Bad

And maybe you can receive a partial refund --- however - THIS IS NEEDED. PERIOD!

[kcr]

15. Most of those selfish people will vote for Trump anyway.

[Le Roi de Pot]

19. I am for making the loans interest free..and making tuition 0 for new students

And lots of guys making over 200 k a year would a get a benefit they dont deserve.

[kcr]

25. The problem is that is often the best way to make a safety net stick.

Think Social Security. By making it available to everyone, it never gained a stigma as an entitlement for the poor, thereby making it harder to attack politically.

[LovingA2andMI]

12. DO IT!!!

Thank You Elizabeth!!!

[Native]

16. It's a shame it's only federal student loans.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

21. Cool. Then I'll Only Owe $100,000 In Student Loans

My student loans will definitely outlive me. I have come to grips with the fact that I will literally never pay off my student loans. That's what 7 years of higher education, then getting tossed out into an economy that's been wrecked by Republican rule for the vast majority of my working life, gets you. You play the game by THEIR rules, get yourself an education, get a good job, and they reward you with a debt that you will never be able to pay off. That's America under Republican rule.

[smirkymonkey]

22. I'm not in much better shape than you are.

It makes me sick that I only borrowed $50k for grad school, and by the time the payment came due it was just around the time of Sept 11th when I had been laid off and couldn't find a decent paying job for almost 1.5 years.

Then when I found one, the payment they wanted was much more than I could pay. I offered an amount that I could pay on my salary and they refused it, and the interest just accumulated until it was $135,000. Insane. Who gets that kind of money on a $50k investment over 10 years?

I started to pay it off and am down to about $123k, but when I see what I pay each month and how little of it goes to paying off the actual loan, it makes me want to throw up. I feel like I will never pay it off, but I pay almost a second rent to them. It's sickening how they take advantage of us.

I had no idea it would ever get this bad. I have tried to be responsible and I have been, but it's killing me. And they are making a fortune off of it. I hate these bastards more than anything.

[mvd]

24. Good! I am anything that helps regular people

Not just the rich and big corporations. My debt was transferred to the Department of Education, so I guess I qualify?