SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) partipate in a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on February 27, 2019. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
'We Can Do Better' Than Biden's Paltry Student Debt Relief Plan, Says AOC
The president's approach, said the New York Democrat, is "just enough to anger the people against it *and* the people who need forgiveness the most."
May 27, 2022
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday joined economic justice advocates in rebuking President Joe Biden's reported plan to cancel just $10,000 in federal student loan debt for a means-tested selection of borrowers, warning the proposal is too little for those who need it most while excluding many desperate for relief.
"$10,000 [of] means-tested forgiveness is just enough to anger the people against it and the people who need forgiveness the most," the New York Democrat said. "We can do better."
Ocasio-Cortez responded to reports about the plan, which would offer relief to individuals who earned less than $150,000 in the previous year, as advocates held a rapid response protest outside the White House to demand the Biden administration provide more ambitious relief.
The congresswoman was among the critics who noted that many student borrowers are paying off thousands of dollars in interest, which "will undo that $10,000 fast."
"$10,000 student debt relief just isn't enough," said Lauren Miller, communications director for the Harvard Institute of Politics. "Especially if it's not paired with a huge reduction on interest rates, banning federal aid from going to for-profit colleges, a massive increase in Pell Grants, and free public college."
After the rapid response protests were announced Friday morning, the Student Borrower Protection Center announced that an "historic coalition" of 529 labor and civil rights groups called on President Joe Biden to cancel at least $50,000 of student debt per borrower, as Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have proposed.
The groups include national labor unions such as the UAW and the SEIU as well as the NAACP.
The support for broad relief from labor unions counters claims from corporate Democrats, Republicans, and White House officials that large-scale student loan relief would unfairly benefit the wealthy, said one critic.
As Max Moran and Hannah Story Brown of the Revolving Door Project wrote in a Common Dreams op-ed Friday, the administration's insistence on an "artificially limited" plan capping relief at $10,000 will "come down hardest on the most vulnerable."
"For 83% of Black borrowers, canceling only $10,000 of debt would still leave them with a balance higher than their original amount," Moran and Brown wrote, because over the last two decades, the median student debt balance for these borrowers quadrupled from $7,000 to $30,000.
"What should be a slam-dunk opportunity to energize voters young and old, and especially voters of color, may instead become a bureaucratic mess that offers too little relief for too much complexity--which is exactly what student debt profiteers want from a loan forgiveness policy, if we are to have one at all," they added.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said Biden's reported plan does not go "as far and as deep as the hurt is" as she called for more "bold" and "meaningful" reforms.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday joined economic justice advocates in rebuking President Joe Biden's reported plan to cancel just $10,000 in federal student loan debt for a means-tested selection of borrowers, warning the proposal is too little for those who need it most while excluding many desperate for relief.
"$10,000 [of] means-tested forgiveness is just enough to anger the people against it and the people who need forgiveness the most," the New York Democrat said. "We can do better."
Ocasio-Cortez responded to reports about the plan, which would offer relief to individuals who earned less than $150,000 in the previous year, as advocates held a rapid response protest outside the White House to demand the Biden administration provide more ambitious relief.
The congresswoman was among the critics who noted that many student borrowers are paying off thousands of dollars in interest, which "will undo that $10,000 fast."
"$10,000 student debt relief just isn't enough," said Lauren Miller, communications director for the Harvard Institute of Politics. "Especially if it's not paired with a huge reduction on interest rates, banning federal aid from going to for-profit colleges, a massive increase in Pell Grants, and free public college."
After the rapid response protests were announced Friday morning, the Student Borrower Protection Center announced that an "historic coalition" of 529 labor and civil rights groups called on President Joe Biden to cancel at least $50,000 of student debt per borrower, as Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have proposed.
The groups include national labor unions such as the UAW and the SEIU as well as the NAACP.
The support for broad relief from labor unions counters claims from corporate Democrats, Republicans, and White House officials that large-scale student loan relief would unfairly benefit the wealthy, said one critic.
As Max Moran and Hannah Story Brown of the Revolving Door Project wrote in a Common Dreams op-ed Friday, the administration's insistence on an "artificially limited" plan capping relief at $10,000 will "come down hardest on the most vulnerable."
"For 83% of Black borrowers, canceling only $10,000 of debt would still leave them with a balance higher than their original amount," Moran and Brown wrote, because over the last two decades, the median student debt balance for these borrowers quadrupled from $7,000 to $30,000.
"What should be a slam-dunk opportunity to energize voters young and old, and especially voters of color, may instead become a bureaucratic mess that offers too little relief for too much complexity--which is exactly what student debt profiteers want from a loan forgiveness policy, if we are to have one at all," they added.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said Biden's reported plan does not go "as far and as deep as the hurt is" as she called for more "bold" and "meaningful" reforms.
From Your Site Articles
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday joined economic justice advocates in rebuking President Joe Biden's reported plan to cancel just $10,000 in federal student loan debt for a means-tested selection of borrowers, warning the proposal is too little for those who need it most while excluding many desperate for relief.
"$10,000 [of] means-tested forgiveness is just enough to anger the people against it and the people who need forgiveness the most," the New York Democrat said. "We can do better."
Ocasio-Cortez responded to reports about the plan, which would offer relief to individuals who earned less than $150,000 in the previous year, as advocates held a rapid response protest outside the White House to demand the Biden administration provide more ambitious relief.
The congresswoman was among the critics who noted that many student borrowers are paying off thousands of dollars in interest, which "will undo that $10,000 fast."
"$10,000 student debt relief just isn't enough," said Lauren Miller, communications director for the Harvard Institute of Politics. "Especially if it's not paired with a huge reduction on interest rates, banning federal aid from going to for-profit colleges, a massive increase in Pell Grants, and free public college."
After the rapid response protests were announced Friday morning, the Student Borrower Protection Center announced that an "historic coalition" of 529 labor and civil rights groups called on President Joe Biden to cancel at least $50,000 of student debt per borrower, as Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have proposed.
The groups include national labor unions such as the UAW and the SEIU as well as the NAACP.
The support for broad relief from labor unions counters claims from corporate Democrats, Republicans, and White House officials that large-scale student loan relief would unfairly benefit the wealthy, said one critic.
As Max Moran and Hannah Story Brown of the Revolving Door Project wrote in a Common Dreams op-ed Friday, the administration's insistence on an "artificially limited" plan capping relief at $10,000 will "come down hardest on the most vulnerable."
"For 83% of Black borrowers, canceling only $10,000 of debt would still leave them with a balance higher than their original amount," Moran and Brown wrote, because over the last two decades, the median student debt balance for these borrowers quadrupled from $7,000 to $30,000.
"What should be a slam-dunk opportunity to energize voters young and old, and especially voters of color, may instead become a bureaucratic mess that offers too little relief for too much complexity--which is exactly what student debt profiteers want from a loan forgiveness policy, if we are to have one at all," they added.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said Biden's reported plan does not go "as far and as deep as the hurt is" as she called for more "bold" and "meaningful" reforms.
From Your Site Articles
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.