Senator Michael Bennett Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images
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Senator Michael Bennett has challenged Biden’s potential plan to forgive part of his student loan debt.
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He called on the White House to combine this with other initiatives to correct a broken credit system.
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Some Democrats worry that forgiving student loans could provoke a backlash among voters.
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennett has condemned the White House’s plan to cancel at least $ 10,000 student loans to a borrower Monday night.
Bennett, a Democrat facing a growing midterm re-election campaign in November, says the Biden administration must combine student loan forgiveness with broader reforms to fix a credit system that burdens students. with larger amounts of debt over the years.
“Americans deserve more than debt relief,” Bennett said in a Senate speech. “In general, canceling college debt does nothing to deal with the absurd cost of college or to fix our broken student loan program.”
He continued: “He offers nothing to Americans who have paid off their college debts, or to those who have chosen a lower-priced college to go as a way to avoid getting into debt or taking on debt. It ignores the majority of Americans who have never been to college, some of whom have debts that are just as stunning and just as unfair. “
Bennett suggested that the $ 200 billion bid for Biden’s student loan forgiveness proposal could be a two-year extension of the monthly child allowance that expired last year, or as an advance payment to combat a worsening climate crisis.
Bennett’s remarks underscore the continuing concern among some Democrats about Biden’s potential move to simplify some student loan obligations by the end of the summer. Some, like Bennett, are worried that the benefits will go to wealthy people with higher or higher degrees, which will provoke a negative reaction among lower-income voters.
This could further expose the party to fierce attacks by the Republican Party that Democrats are rescuing privileged over working-class Americans who have never attended college.
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As Insider reported earlier, targeting student loan facilities to low-income borrowers can be administratively difficult – especially given that loan forgiveness programs designed to target low-income borrowers have failed. due to difficulties with documentation.
A liberal activist has sharply criticized Bennett. “Nearly 735,000 Colorado residents have student loan debt with an average debt of more than $ 26,000,” Melissa Byrne, an advocate for student debt forgiveness, told Insider. She said Bennett’s “dismissal” of their debt meant he had to meet with additional borrowers to “fully learn about the scale of the crisis”.
Biden has not yet commented on student loan easing, and recent reports suggest he is considering $ 10,000 to forgive borrowers who earn less than $ 150,000 a year. While Bennett worries that the relief may be too extensive, some of his colleagues say the opposite, with progressives such as Senator Bernie Sanders pushing for all student obligations to be canceled without any income ceilings.
Yet the only thing the Biden administration has made clear is that borrowers need to prepare to resume their debt after the current pandemic pause on student loans expires on August 31st. relief that will hit their bills – The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that administration officials say Biden is unlikely to announce relief until July or August.
“The bigger question that needs to come to life on this floor is not how much student debt to cancel, but how to create a path to economic security for every American graduating from high school, including those who don’t go to get a four-year degree, “Bennett said.” It has to be how to build an economy that, when it grows, grows for everyone – not just the first ten percent. “
Read the original article in Business Insider
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