Chuck Schumer: Great Day for Biden to ‘Cancel Student Debt’

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called on President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to cancel student debt — a priority that has seemingly fallen to the wayside in the first year of Biden’s presidency.

“Not thinking today would be a great day for President Biden and Vice President Harris to #CancelStudentDebt,” Schumer said as part of his frequent reminders for the cause on social media over the months:

Throughout the year, Democrats have begged Biden to take action on student loan debt, asking him to cancel a large portion — up to $50,000. However, Biden has largely balked at the prospect, stating during a townhall in February that he “will not make that happen.” [per student] Instead, he said he is “prepared to write off the $10,000 debt, but not $50,000”:

Biden received significant backlash for his answer, prompting the White House to clarify his remarks shortly thereafter.

“He was reiterating his previous stated position, which is that he doesn’t favor $50,000 in student loan relief without limitations,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at the time, adding that Biden:

…will ask them [the Department of Justice] to conduct a legal review of his authority to act on executive action in conjunction with a policy review from his Domestic Policy Council on how executive action debt relief, if any, should be targeted.

However, months later, nothing has been done on this front. While Biden extended the pause on federal student loan payments initiated by former President Trump last year, student loan payments are expected to resume in January 2022.