More than six months after the White House said it would promptly release information about its authority to cancel student loan debt, Rep. Ilhan Omar informed the Biden administration on Friday that she and other progressives in Congress are done waiting.
"Turning student debt payments back on in the middle of a pandemic is an act of policy failure. Cancelling student debt is both the morally right and economically sound thing to do."
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said in April that the memo would be made public within "weeks." Now, the date when borrowers will be required to make monthly payments again following Biden's extension of the Trump administration's moratorium—January 31, 2022—is fast approaching with no further information about the White House's plans for student loan cancellation.
"Borrowers are anxiously awaiting the administration's actions," wrote the members, who also included Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). "The time has come to release the memo and cancel student debt."
"Several legal scholars, including those at the Project on Predatory Student Lending at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, and 80 members of the House and Senate confirm that the administration has the authority to broadly cancel student debt," the lawmakers wrote, adding that the White House has already canceled all interest on federal student loans.
"It would be an exercise in legal gymnastics to suggest that the president had the authority to cancel the interest on student debt on his first day, but lacks the authority to cancel the principal on student debt moving forward," they wrote.
Related Content
"Turning student debt payments back on in the middle of a pandemic is an act of policy failure," the group wrote. "Cancelling student debt is both the morally right and economically sound thing to do."
"With a single signature," the lawmakers added, "you can improve the economy, create new jobs, transform the lives of 45 million Americans, narrow the racial wealth gap, and maintain the trust of voters."
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Julia Conley.
Julia Conley | Radio Free (2021-10-08T13:32:34+00:00) Omar Demands Release of Memo Detailing Biden’s Authority to Cancel Student Debt. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2021/10/08/omar-demands-release-of-memo-detailing-bidens-authority-to-cancel-student-debt/
Please log in to upload a file.
There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.