Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are pressing President Biden to use his executive power to cancel $50,000 per borrower in student debt after he balked at the idea at a Tuesday town hall.
“An ocean of student loan debt is holding back 43 million borrowers and disproportionately weighing down Black and Brown Americans. 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,” Warren and Schumer said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
The Senate Democrats have been outspoken advocates for the cancellation, repeatedly pushing Biden to agree and introducing legislation earlier this month calling on him to forgive up to $50,000 in federally held student debt. That bill is not legally binding but would represent a formal congressional endorsement of the idea.
The renewed pressure campaign comes a day after Biden balked at forgiving that amount of student debt, saying he does not have the power to do so by executive action.