Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, N.Y., has renewed calls for President Joe Biden to cancel $50,000 of student loan debt only days after Biden signed the $1.9 trillion relief plan into law.
Schumer said he thinks Biden has the ability to forgive up to $50,000 in student debt during his speech on the floor of the Senate, which he claimed would be a “life-changing decision.”
“President Joe Biden to his credit has proposed some loan forgiveness, up to about $10,000,” Schumer said.
Liberal Democrats have been pushing the policy as the country is weighed down by $1.56 trillion worth of student loan debt. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., are a few of the supporters of the measure.
Biden, however, has refused to give into their requests.
He responded that the policy could unfairly help people who went to expensive schools, like Ivy League universities, over other people who went to public colleges, during a CNN town hall earlier this year. Biden has stuck to his $10,000 figure.
Senator Schumer said this Monday that the $50,000 cancellation would also help solve the racial wealth gap.
The Senate Majority Leader also lauded a rule in the recently passed American Rescue Plan that would guarantee no taxes are owed on any canceled student loan debt.
Schumer compared taxing forgiven student debt to giving with one hand and taking with the other.
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