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Democrats in the House and Senate plan to pass a resolution on Thursday calling on President Biden to use executive action to remove $ 50,000 in federal student loan debt – though Biden’s response to such a claim remains questionable. stay.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York is holding a press conference on Thursday morning to announce the initiative along with Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Who called on the Biden government to take action.
‘The cancellation of student loan debt would immediately put money in the pockets of millions of Americans. It will help dig our economy out of this crisis, “Warren said in a tweet earlier this week. “And we do not have to wait for Congress: the Biden-Harris government can deal with it with their executive,” she added.
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Democratic representatives Mondaire Jones of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Alma Adams of North Carolina have cast their support behind the resolution and will be present during the Thursday press.
But the president’s response to the resolution remains unclear. While Biden has repeatedly said he supports student relief, he disagrees with the Democratic legislature’s call for executive action.
The president said he supported the removal of $ 10,000 federal student loan debt, but also called on Congress to address waiver legislation.
“It could be disputed that the president could have the executive power to forgive up to $ 50,000 in student debt,” Biden told the Washington Post in December. “Well, I think that’s pretty dubious.”
The graduate of the University of Delaware, class of 1965, added about the use of the executive order: ‘I do not know about that. I probably would not do that. ”
The calls to eradicate crippling student debt first hit the political arena a decade ago, when students, frustrated by their inability to afford universal loans, took to the streets under Occupy Wall Street movement to protest.
But Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., And Warren reduced his urgency by tackling the issue in their presidential campaigns in 2020 – and Warren did not let go of the idea, despite abandoning his candidate.
Warren, a former professor of bankruptcy law, and Schumer drafted a resolution in September calling on the next government to cancel up to $ 50,000 in federal student debt without congressional approval, using the Law on the Higher Education of 1965.
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Biden has already signed nearly 30 executive orders, including the suspension of student loan payments in light of the coronavirus pandemic – suggesting that if the president wanted to use the executive action to cancel part of the federal student loan, he would did.
Although Biden has made it clear that he will not wait for dual support on his $ 1.9 billion stimulus package for coronavirus-related economic relief, he has not expressed the same determination to push through other fiscal policies.
Warren on Wednesday pressed Biden’s choice of secretary of education over the school loan issue. She asked Miguel Cardona during his confirmation hearing to give immediate relief to student debt borrowers and told the former principal in Connecticut: ‘One way I still want to encourage you to take is the administrative cancellation of the student loan debt. The law herein is clear. “
The two-time senator reminded Cardona: “Majority leader Schumer and I have outlined how you and President Biden can immediately cancel $ 50,000 in student loan debt.”
Cardona, for his part, agreed that the student loan debt had a “significant impact” on the lives of borrowers, and although he said the federal government should provide “immediate relief” to borrowers, he did not offer any details on how to achieve the goal. to achieve. .
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About 44 million Americans, or one in six people in the United States, have debt in the form of federal student loans – a staggering $ 1.6 billion student debt.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said student debt in the U.S. negatively impacted an American’s entire ‘economic life’.
Fox News could not immediately reach Senators Schumer or Warren for comment.
Brittany De Lea contributed to this report.