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
Student loan debt holders take part in a demonstration outside of the White House staff entrance on July 27, 2022. (Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty Images for We, The 45 Million)
'Cancel It All,' Say Progressives as Biden Favors $10,000 in Means-Tested Student Debt Relief
"Student debt is a nearly $2,000,000,000,000 crisis," said Rep. Cori Bush. "POTUS must cancel student debt. All of it."
Aug 23, 2022
Fresh reporting out Monday night indicates that President Joe Biden is "leaning toward" canceling $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers with annual incomes below $125,000, a means-tested plan that would fall well short of progressive lawmakers' call for the administration to wipe at least $50,000 off the books for all borrowers.
According to CNN, Biden's long-awaited announcement of student debt cancellation "could come as early as Wednesday," a week before the student loan repayment and interest freeze that's been in effect since 2020 is set to end.
"For millions of people, $10,000 doesn't cover the interest. It won't lower their monthly payments."
"Administration officials have also recently discussed the possibility of additional forgiveness for specific subsets of the population," CNN reported Monday without offering details.
Progressives were quick to make clear their dissatisfaction with the latest update on the president's plan, which--while fulfilling a campaign promise--would leave millions saddled with massive student debt balances. The average federal student loan debt balance is $37,667, according to the Education Data Initiative.
"Student debt is a nearly $2,000,000,000,000 crisis," tweeted Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "POTUS must cancel student debt. All of it."
Proponents of full-scale debt cancellation argue that the president has the legal authority to order the Education Department to eliminate all outstanding student loan debt, a move they say would come with economic and political benefits while steering clear of the bureaucratic mess that inevitably accompanies means-tested programs.
Last year, Biden instructed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to compile a memo on presidential authority to cancel student debt without congressional authorization, but the document has yet to be released.
The White House has reportedly been "deeply divided over the political and economic effects of loan forgiveness," with officials such as Susan Rice, the head of Biden's Domestic Policy Council, arguing against broad-based student debt cancellation during internal discussions.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, meanwhile, "has argued that it would galvanize a base of young voters increasingly frustrated with the president," The New York Times reported in June.
Warren Gunnels, the staff director for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), contended on social media Monday that "Republicans will attack forgiving $10,000 in means-tested student debt as ferociously as if Biden canceled all student debt."
The former choice, though, would demoralize "tens of millions of Americans who will still be drowning" in debt, Gunnels added.
"Think big or go home," he wrote. "Cancel all of it."
Prominent advocacy organizations have also warned Biden against canceling just $10,000 in student debt, with the head of the NAACP recently comparing such limited relief to "pouring a bucket of ice water on a forest fire."
In an analysis released Monday, Matt Bruenig of the People's Policy Project noted that $10,000 in student debt forgiveness would "wipe out the student loan balances of around 31% of student debtors while halving or more the student debt balances of another 21% of student debtors."
To many progressive advocates and borrowers, that's nowhere near enough.
"For millions of people, $10,000 doesn't cover the interest," tweeted Astra Taylor, co-founder of the Debt Collective, the nation's first debtors' union. "It won't lower their monthly payments."
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.
Fresh reporting out Monday night indicates that President Joe Biden is "leaning toward" canceling $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers with annual incomes below $125,000, a means-tested plan that would fall well short of progressive lawmakers' call for the administration to wipe at least $50,000 off the books for all borrowers.
According to CNN, Biden's long-awaited announcement of student debt cancellation "could come as early as Wednesday," a week before the student loan repayment and interest freeze that's been in effect since 2020 is set to end.
"For millions of people, $10,000 doesn't cover the interest. It won't lower their monthly payments."
"Administration officials have also recently discussed the possibility of additional forgiveness for specific subsets of the population," CNN reported Monday without offering details.
Progressives were quick to make clear their dissatisfaction with the latest update on the president's plan, which--while fulfilling a campaign promise--would leave millions saddled with massive student debt balances. The average federal student loan debt balance is $37,667, according to the Education Data Initiative.
"Student debt is a nearly $2,000,000,000,000 crisis," tweeted Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "POTUS must cancel student debt. All of it."
Proponents of full-scale debt cancellation argue that the president has the legal authority to order the Education Department to eliminate all outstanding student loan debt, a move they say would come with economic and political benefits while steering clear of the bureaucratic mess that inevitably accompanies means-tested programs.
Last year, Biden instructed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to compile a memo on presidential authority to cancel student debt without congressional authorization, but the document has yet to be released.
The White House has reportedly been "deeply divided over the political and economic effects of loan forgiveness," with officials such as Susan Rice, the head of Biden's Domestic Policy Council, arguing against broad-based student debt cancellation during internal discussions.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, meanwhile, "has argued that it would galvanize a base of young voters increasingly frustrated with the president," The New York Times reported in June.
Warren Gunnels, the staff director for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), contended on social media Monday that "Republicans will attack forgiving $10,000 in means-tested student debt as ferociously as if Biden canceled all student debt."
The former choice, though, would demoralize "tens of millions of Americans who will still be drowning" in debt, Gunnels added.
"Think big or go home," he wrote. "Cancel all of it."
Prominent advocacy organizations have also warned Biden against canceling just $10,000 in student debt, with the head of the NAACP recently comparing such limited relief to "pouring a bucket of ice water on a forest fire."
In an analysis released Monday, Matt Bruenig of the People's Policy Project noted that $10,000 in student debt forgiveness would "wipe out the student loan balances of around 31% of student debtors while halving or more the student debt balances of another 21% of student debtors."
To many progressive advocates and borrowers, that's nowhere near enough.
"For millions of people, $10,000 doesn't cover the interest," tweeted Astra Taylor, co-founder of the Debt Collective, the nation's first debtors' union. "It won't lower their monthly payments."
From Your Site Articles
Fresh reporting out Monday night indicates that President Joe Biden is "leaning toward" canceling $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers with annual incomes below $125,000, a means-tested plan that would fall well short of progressive lawmakers' call for the administration to wipe at least $50,000 off the books for all borrowers.
According to CNN, Biden's long-awaited announcement of student debt cancellation "could come as early as Wednesday," a week before the student loan repayment and interest freeze that's been in effect since 2020 is set to end.
"For millions of people, $10,000 doesn't cover the interest. It won't lower their monthly payments."
"Administration officials have also recently discussed the possibility of additional forgiveness for specific subsets of the population," CNN reported Monday without offering details.
Progressives were quick to make clear their dissatisfaction with the latest update on the president's plan, which--while fulfilling a campaign promise--would leave millions saddled with massive student debt balances. The average federal student loan debt balance is $37,667, according to the Education Data Initiative.
"Student debt is a nearly $2,000,000,000,000 crisis," tweeted Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "POTUS must cancel student debt. All of it."
Proponents of full-scale debt cancellation argue that the president has the legal authority to order the Education Department to eliminate all outstanding student loan debt, a move they say would come with economic and political benefits while steering clear of the bureaucratic mess that inevitably accompanies means-tested programs.
Last year, Biden instructed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to compile a memo on presidential authority to cancel student debt without congressional authorization, but the document has yet to be released.
The White House has reportedly been "deeply divided over the political and economic effects of loan forgiveness," with officials such as Susan Rice, the head of Biden's Domestic Policy Council, arguing against broad-based student debt cancellation during internal discussions.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, meanwhile, "has argued that it would galvanize a base of young voters increasingly frustrated with the president," The New York Times reported in June.
Warren Gunnels, the staff director for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), contended on social media Monday that "Republicans will attack forgiving $10,000 in means-tested student debt as ferociously as if Biden canceled all student debt."
The former choice, though, would demoralize "tens of millions of Americans who will still be drowning" in debt, Gunnels added.
"Think big or go home," he wrote. "Cancel all of it."
Prominent advocacy organizations have also warned Biden against canceling just $10,000 in student debt, with the head of the NAACP recently comparing such limited relief to "pouring a bucket of ice water on a forest fire."
In an analysis released Monday, Matt Bruenig of the People's Policy Project noted that $10,000 in student debt forgiveness would "wipe out the student loan balances of around 31% of student debtors while halving or more the student debt balances of another 21% of student debtors."
To many progressive advocates and borrowers, that's nowhere near enough.
"For millions of people, $10,000 doesn't cover the interest," tweeted Astra Taylor, co-founder of the Debt Collective, the nation's first debtors' union. "It won't lower their monthly payments."
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.