President-elect Joe Biden said Congress should take “immediate” action to forgive student loan debts.
Biden’s appeal comes after New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said Biden should take executive action to waive student debt after he takes office.
A Biden official told Fox News that the president-elect is calling for “immediate” action to forgive $10,000 of student loan debt for borrowers — but that the action should take place in Congress.
“Immediate $10,000 forgiveness of student loans, helping people up there in real trouble,” Biden said Monday. “They’re having to make choices between paying their student loan and paying the rent. Those kinds of decisions.”
Biden added: “It should be done immediately.”
The official later said Biden was referring to congressional action.
Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren advanced a plan saying Biden could use his executive authority to cancel up to $50,000 of student debt per borrower.
“I have a proposal with Elizabeth Warren that the first $50,000 of debt be vanquished, and we believe that Joe Biden can do that with the pen as opposed to legislation,” Schumer said during an interview with The Ink.
Biden has called for more modest forgiveness — $10,000 in student loan debt as part of a broader coronavirus relief package.
Schumer said that Biden has the power under the Higher Education Act to order the Department of Education to reduce or waive student loan debt without congressional approval.
He said it would provide total forgiveness to more than 75% of borrowers and partial forgiveness for more than 95%.
But having taxpayers absorb the cost of massive student debt could face political resistance and lawsuits.
Outstanding student loan debt has doubled over the past decade to $1.7 trillion, with one in six Americans owing money, Fox News reported. It’s the second largest amount of debt owed by Americans after home mortgages.
President Trump in March suspended federal student loan payments and set interest rates at zero percent through Dec. 31, 2020.
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