AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has said it once, and she'll say it again — President Joe Biden can and should cancel student debt.
"Canceling $50,000 of student-loan debt would help tens of millions of Americans," Warren told MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan on Sunday. "People whose only sin was to be born into a family that couldn't write a check for them to go to school, and who nonetheless got out there and tried to get an education."
—The Mehdi Hasan Show (@MehdiHasanShow) March 14, 2022
Calls like Warren's have only amplified in recent months. Student-loan payments have been paused for two years, and interest waived, as part of pandemic relief. Biden extended that pause for his third time through May 1. That date is quickly approaching, and some lawmakers and advocates say that if Biden doesn't extend for a fourth time, he should cancel student debt broadly before 43 million federal borrowers get thrown back into repayment.
There are signs that more relief may be coming. White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain suggested to Pod Save America two weeks ago that borrowers can expect some sort of student-debt relief before the expected payment resumption date.
"The President is going to look at what we should do on student debt before the pause expires, or he'll extend the pause," Klain said, adding that "the question whether or not there's some executive action on student debt forgiveness when payments resume is a decision we're going to take before payments resume."
More recently, the Education Department reportedly directed student-loan companies to halt sending notices to borrowers regarding the payment restart date, suggesting the department is preparing for a different, and likely later, date to resume collecting student debt.
Still, Biden pledged during his campaign to approve $10,000 in student-debt cancellation for every borrower, and his silence on the issue has some voters frustrated. A student-loan borrower previously told Insider that it's "upsetting" Biden has not yet fulfilled his promise.
"I would be shocked, and I'd be thrilled to go to the voting booth if they do do it," he said, referring to student-loan relief. "But right now they need to earn my vote, and right now they're not doing it."
Some Republican lawmakers have criticized the idea of more student-loan relief. A group of House Republicans recently called student-loan forgiveness "reckless" and "short-sighted," citing the cost the relief would have to taxpayers and the economy.
Warren has previously sounded the alarm on the impact failure to cancel student debt would have on elections, and she's not the only Democrat to do so. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in December it would be "actually delusional" to think Democrats could win an election without delivering on progressive priorities, and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley told Insider that "the ultimate persuasion is impact, and Democrats win when we deliver bold, impactful policies that improve the daily lives of our constituents."
