House Democrats roll out resolution calling for Biden to forgive $50,000 of borrowers' student debt

[sabra]

Source: VOX

The pressure is building for President-elect Joe Biden to cancel federal student debt. The latest: a resolution led by prominent House Democrats urging Biden to act.

On Thursday, Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alma Adams (D-NC), and Maxine Waters (D-CA) are introducing a resolution, shared exclusively with Vox, that pushes the incoming Biden administration to take action on student debt. The resolution doesn’t force the next administration to do anything, but calls on Biden to forgive up to $50,000 of federal debt for student borrowers. It’s the companion to a Senate resolution put forth by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in the fall.

“The student debt crisis is a racial and economic justice issue and we must finally begin to address it as such,” Pressley said in a statement accompanying the resolution. “Broad-based student debt cancellation is precisely the kind of bold, high-impact policy that the broad and diverse coalition that elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris expect them to deliver.”

The United States has a mounting student debt problem: 45 million Americans owe a total of about $1.6 trillion in student loans, and one in 10 loans are in delinquency or default. The Federal Reserve estimates the typical monthly payment to be between $200 and $299.

Read more: https://www.vox.com/2020/12/17/22179577/biden-student-debt-house-resolution

[LovingA2andMI]

1. THIS!!!!

PERIOD!!!

[world wide wally]

2. YESSSSS!

[Wicked Blue]

3. My son-in-law's monthly student loan payment is more than their mortgage

and we sometimes have to help them out financially

[Maven]

4. Yes. Student debt is a drag on our entire economy

And has financially hobbled at least two generations of graduates. Now people are struggling to survive financially due to the pandemic. This is one of the most common-sense things that Pres. Biden can do to help people right now. Hopefully without watering it down or “means testing” it to death so that it only helps a small subset of people.

[The Mouth]

5. Yes

Forgive the amount equal to going to the closest state college, or., if they wish, vocational school.

Anyone who can go to an expensive, exclusive place can get scholarships anyway.

I think everyone should be able to go to college, damned if I want to pay for someone to live in dorm or go somewhere fancy.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

12. So if I live 75-100 miles from campus I should commute everyday?

What world do you live in?

[beastie boy]

21. Do you live 75-100 miles from CalTech or Sacramento Community College?

Whether it’s one or the other has a lot to do with whether your response is ridiculous or not.

[happy feet]

31. What facts do you have to support your assertion?

"Anyone who can go to an expensive, exclusive place can get scholarships anyway. "

Curious, because I have personal and friend experiences which obviate your statement regarding financial aid and scholarships for ALL Tier 1 & 2 universities.

[The Mouth]

35. Well, then maybe I was wrong

Still, Speaking only for myself, but I bet I'm representative of a lot of people-
I'm happy to see anyone who wants to go to their local state college at little or no cost. Damned if I'm going to pay for 'em to go to Stanford or Yale or some such place I couldn't afford.

YMMV.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. This will separate borrowers from lenders, young from old, educated from not

They should stretch out payments, make them minimal, $25 to 50 a month if needed, and defer repayment to forgive half on death. But all those who have borrowed and repaid, who have not the benefits of a good education, this is a non-starter.

No one forgave a dime I ever borrowed. Ever. I don't owe anyone with a $95,000 B.A. a fresh start so you can borrow for a new car and new furniture and a new condo. I didn't get any of that. This is a bubble gum solution to an old-fashioned problem: too much debt.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

11. ME ME ME.

WHAT ABOUT ME?

[marble falls]

15. You really don't mean that. Do you really want them living squalor just because you had to?

After I got out of the service I sure wouldn't have wished the entire experience on anybody else just because I did it. I waited out my year exposed to the draft and then enlisted.

[Owl]

17. Exactly.

[bucolic_frolic]

34. Loan forgiveness for the educated is Elitism at its finest

The problem is in federal loans. Colleges never cut costs because they know more money will be loaned to students. College costs have outpaced inflation by humungous amounts, like 8% a year or something like it. All we have for this money is TajMahal buildings, elite faculty, even as most college courses are taught by underpaid itinerants. It is all a massive foul up at this point.

You want an egalitarian society? One where income inequality is addressed? Then why reward the elites of education, and let them have a do-over now that they have their degrees?

Are you doing it for waitresses and mechanics? Truck drivers? Road crews?

[rpannier]

27. I paid off my student loan as well and I support this measure

Education at universities has gotten more expensive then when I was in college (early 80's) and I recognize that
My father went to law school at U.C. Berkeley in the early 1960's and guess how much tuition he paid.
ZERO
UC and CSU education was free.
We have the ability to do so and choose not to do so.
Society (including you) does owe the opportunity for a good start because... here's the kicker... this generation created the situation we're in because we wanted tax breaks and lower cost this and that, but we wanted all the perks while not wanting to pay for them

[NurseJackie]

36. Thank you! A very reasonable response.

You are correct.

[inwiththenew]

7. I'm all for this but something needs to be done to address the cost of higher education

The cost of higher education has been increasing at double the rate of inflation for decades now. Without any measures to reduce the rising cost of education we are just kicking the can down the road unless we plan on just doing a loan forgiveness again in a decade or so after more people are crushed under the debt.

[marble falls]

14. Higher Education and consumer loans, a marriage made in hell. Why does UT need an ...

... endowment of Eight Billion Dollars?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

10. Bitter much?

If M4A passed should we go back and reimburse everyone for every operation they had? What a ridiculous idea.

[whopis01]

20. Assistance for those forced into debt or bankruptcy by medical costs would be a good thing. n/t

[marble falls]

13. How far back do you want to go, cause I paid off my debts from the 70's and a good portion ...

Last edited Thu Dec 17, 2020, 08:09 PM - Edit history (1)

... three kids' college debts.

Are you doing good now? I am, and I see no reason to make them pay just because I had to.

Let alone how much more expensive school is now: UT is a state school and its over $15K/year.

I paid $1,500+/- per quarter at the University of Akron, and inflation has not been that high.

Do we really need to saddle kids with a house mortgage sized debt?

[rpannier]

28. Maybe so. But many times in this world benefits come out that you didn't get

If you're 67 and medicare for all is passed, should you get the money you spent on your medical bills back
Change happens and some people get it and others don't.
I paid my student loan off and I learned that I don't want others to go through the BS my friends and I did

[marble falls]

9. A good solid idea.

[Vivienne235729]

16. YES!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make this happen! I think it is just a solid idea.

This would help A LOT of people out in a big way. And this guarantees that the money will be spent wisely.

[whopis01]

19. If he does this, I hope the tax consequences are handled as well

I know the resolution calls for Biden to direct the IRS to not count the forgiven debt as income (as it normally would be) - but it sounds like it is being treated as two separable issues. Hopefully that is not the case.

[wnylib]

25. I've heard several times on NPR

from various guests that Biden seems amenable to forgiving $10,000, but no more than that. It would clear up debt for people at the lower income brackets who dropped out for one reason or another, e.g. a need to quit and work, or getting sucked into for profit schools that offered little to no real job training.

I would not expect to see Biden go for a $50,000 debt forgiveness.

[The Mouth]

26. If they tie it to the cost of the closest state college

There will be plenty of support.

I got to go to college when I could literally pay it off working. I had to bicycle 12 miles each way, but no big deal.

Everyone should be able to go to either a four-year college or a good trade school; people who want to go to someplace that costs more than that should pay for it. Maybe include *some* stipend for housing if the nearest college is farther than some set distance.

If they expect to forgive the debts of someone who racks up $120K at an Ivy or fancy place? No way in hell.

[wnylib]

33. Whst about people who go into

professions that require several years of study, like medicine or law?

We also need to prepare for a shortage of medical personnel after the pandemic because people feeling burned out from it are quitting or planning to when it's over.

EDIT to add: There are also people dying in larger numbers in som fields, like medicine, and teachers who have quit because of the risks.

I remember reading about shortages in several fields, like education and clergy (most educated class at the time) after the Plague in Europe, when universities closed down due to lack of faculty and students. Covid is not that deadly, but will leave a dent in nursing, physicians, professors, and teachers, as well as non professional essential workers, who perhaps will be able to demand higher wages as peasants did after the Plague. We need to plan for these changes.

[aka-chmeee]

29. So, although I paid my school debts and those of my daughters,

I should now have to help pay the school debts of others? This is like tax forgiveness...Makes me feel like an idiot for paying my taxes! Now we should give $50,000 to people who borrowed to acquire the ability to demand a higher income and thus took on heavy loan debt. To pay for it, levy a penalty upon those who took another path, limiting their potential income but avoiding the debt. I guess that instead of the Tech School I could afford, I should have spent several years and a shit-ton of borrowed money to get a degree in Norwegian Studies so I could whine about having to pay back the money on the job my education afforded me.

[Owl]

30. No.