In a joint statement on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said, “Cancelling $50,000 in federal student loan debt will help close the racial wealth gap, benefit the 40% of borrowers who do not have a college degree, and help stimulate the economy. It’s time to act. We will keep fighting.”
“I will not make that happen,” Biden said after a member of the audience said his proposal to cancel $10,000 per borrower doesn’t go far enough. “We need student loan forgiveness beyond the potential $10,000 your administration has proposed. We need at least a $50,000 minimum. What will you do to make that happen,” the audience member asked.
The dispute among Democrats highlights an early intra-party rift opening under the new administration over a liberal policy proposal. With Democrats controlling Congress and the White House, Schumer and Biden are both facing pressure to balance the demands they face from liberal and moderate members of their party.
“1. Who cares what school someone went to? Entire generations of working class kids were encouraged to go into more debt under the guise of elitism. This is wrong,” she said on Twitter, adding, “2. Nowhere does it say we must trade-off early childhood education for student loan forgiveness. We can have both.”
Ocasio-Cortez said in a second tweet, “The case against student loan forgiveness is looking shakier by the day. We’ve got the *Senate Majority Leader* on board to forgive $50k. Biden’s holding back, but many of the arguments against it just don’t hold water on close inspection. We can and should do it. Keep pushing!”
Biden argues that the government shouldn’t forgive debt for people who went to “Harvard and Yale and Penn” — and he’s also indicated that he believes Congress should make changes through legislation, which would make them harder to undo.
“The President has and continues to support canceling $10,000 of federal student loan debt per person as a response to the Covid crisis,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing this month.
She added that that the President is “calling on Congress to draft the proposal,” and “looks forward to signing it.” But a later tweet from the press secretary suggested that the administration was open to reviewing an executive option.
In one of his first acts in office, Biden extended the pause on student loan payments and interest, a Covid relief benefit put in place by Congress last year that had already been renewed by the Trump administration. Federal student loan borrowers won’t have to make payments until October 1 at the earliest.
He also supports making community college free for everyone, making public four-year colleges free for students from families who earn less than $125,000 a year and changing the existing system to make sure student loan payments are more affordable.
At CNN’s town hall, Biden said, “Here’s what I think: I think everyone and I’ve been proposing this for four years, everyone should be able to go to community college for free,” adding, “The tax policies we have now, we should be able to pay for it.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Katie Lobosco contributed to this report.
