AOC criticizes Biden's opposition to $50,000 in student loan forgiveness, saying his argument 'is looking shakier by the day'

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AOC criticized Biden's opposition to canceling $50,000 in student loan debt per borrower.

"The case against student loan forgiveness is looking shakier by the day," she wrote on Twitter.

Biden said he would back $10,000 in loan forgiveness and free tuition at community colleges.

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday criticized President Joe Biden for his opposition to a progressive push to wipe out $50,000 in student loan debt for borrowers, saying that his argument against it "is looking shakier by the day."

When asked about loan forgiveness during a CNN town hall in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Biden threw his support behind a less ambitious plan to cancel student debt.

"I do think in this moment of economic pain and strain that we should be eliminating interest on the debts that are accumulated," he said. "I'm prepared to write off the $10,000 debt, but not $50,000. I don't think I have the authority to do it by the sign of a pen."

Last month, the Biden administration extended a freeze on student loan payments through September 30, 2021.

When it came to wiping out $50,000 in student loan debt per borrower, Biden said he "will not make that happen."

The president said that he didn't support the idea of forgiving debts for students who attended expensive private schools including "Harvard and Yale and Penn," but would rather spend money on providing early childhood education and ensuring that community colleges are tuition-free.

Ocasio-Cortez, who has pushed for universal student loan forgiveness, took to Twitter to express her disappointment with Biden's position.

"Who cares what school someone went to?" the New York Democrat wrote. "Entire generations of working class kids were encouraged to go into more debt under the guise of elitism. This is wrong. Nowhere does it say we must trade-off early childhood education for student loan forgiveness. We can have both."

Ocasio-Cortez then noted that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York was pushing for Biden to use his executive authority to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt per borrower. Schumer and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts reintroduced a resolution earlier this month pushing for Biden to perform such an action.

"The case against student loan forgiveness is looking shakier by the day," she wrote. "We've got the Senate Majority Leader on board to forgive $50k. Biden's holding back, but many of the arguments against it just don't hold water on close inspection."

She added: "We can and should do it. Keep pushing!"

J1540 on February 17th, 2021 at 19:27 UTC »

Can’t anyone talk about how to lower tuition? It’s going to keep happening. More loans backstopped by federal government raises tuition I believe.

gandalf_thefool on February 17th, 2021 at 19:19 UTC »

Without safeguards in place to stop this from happening again, a 50k forgiveness now would amount to a large swath of the country winning the lottery, although it's admittedly a pretty sad lottery win. People who have paid off their loans get nothing and people who start up new loans after the forgiveness get nothing.

I am ALL for forgiving student loan debt, but stop it from ever happening again first

VinnyGambiniEsq on February 17th, 2021 at 16:14 UTC »

"I do think in this moment of economic pain and strain that we should be eliminating interest on the debts that are accumulated," he said. "I'm prepared to write off the $10,000 debt, but not $50,000. I don't think I have the authority to do it by the sign of a pen."

What's the explanation for why the President has legal authority to wipe out $10k but not $50k?