Here are the Democrats who have vocalized their mixed reviews of Biden's student loan forgiveness plan
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
- Biden announced he would forgive $10,000 in federal student-loan debt for borrowers earning under $125,000 per year.
- Though Democrats have long called for student debt relief, Congressional actions have stalled.
- Some Democrats said Biden went too far and sent "the wrong message" with his sweeping debt relief.
President Joe Biden's sweeping student loan forgiveness plan has drawn mixed reactions from Democrats, many of whom have long-called for student debt relief.
Biden announced Wednesday that he would cancel $10,000 in student debt for borrowers making under $125,000 per year, and $20,000 in debt for students who received Pell Grants.
Republicans railed against the plan, calling it "astonishingly unfair," while some Democrats called for even more relief. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez said she would "keep pushing" for more relief for "those in the highest amounts of debt."
While critiques from Republicans were to be expected, here are the Democrats who have criticized Biden's debt relief plan and what they said.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat in Kansas, said she would have approached the student debt crisis differently.
"I do still have student loans, and it's part of how I know this is a super important issue," Davis said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"I would have approached this differently," Davids said. "It's because it doesn't get to the root of the issue. This is a one-time measure that was done by executive action, and as a member of Congress, I am super focused on trying to make sure that we're making higher education– just, we need to make it more affordable."
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat up for reelection, said in a statement was hoping for a smaller scope of loan forgiveness.
"In my view, the administration should have further targeted the relief, and proposed a way to pay for this plan," Bennet said. "While immediate relief to families is important, one-time debt cancellation does not solve the underlying problem. So I'm pleased to see reforms to income-driven repayment plans and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program."
He added that Biden should "reform the system that got us here in the first place."
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Tim Ryan, who faces Trump-endorsed Republican J.D. Vance in a tight Senate race, distanced himself from Biden's student loan forgiveness, saying it "sends the wrong message."
"As someone who's paying off my own family's student loans, I know the costs of higher education are too high," he said in a statement on Wednesday. "And while there's no doubt that a college education should be about opening opportunities, waiving debt for those already on a trajectory to financial security sends the wrong message to the millions of Ohioans without a degree working just as hard to make ends meet."
"Instead of forgiving student loans for six-figure earners, we should be working to level the playing field for all Americans," Ryan added.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat in a close midterm race, introduced on 50th anniversary of the Pell Grant program in June, legislation to reform the "federal student loan system so that more Nevadans can access higher education without burdensome debt."
"We should be focusing on passing my legislation to expand Pell grants for lower-income students, target loan forgiveness to those in need and actually make college more affordable for working families," Cortez Masto said in a statement, per The New York Times.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/WZHKJ1z
via IFTTT
Comments
Post a Comment