student debt crisis ‘is real’, no answer on $ 10,000 forgiveness

• Vice President Harris told Charlamagne that God the student debt crisis “is real” and “we have to face it”.
• She did not answer his question about Biden’s campaign pledge to write off $ 10,000 in debt per borrower.
• The White House recently said Congress could introduce a bill Biden would sign to write off student debt.

The $ 1.7 trillion student debt crisis is currently the focus of many Americans, as student loan payments resume in 43 days.

Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged the problem in a recent interview with Charlamagne tha God – but that’s about all she went.

In response to a question from the talk show host on Comedy Central regarding what happened to President Joe Biden’s campaign pledge to write off $ 10,000 in student debt for every undergraduate borrower, Harris replied:

“I understand, I understand the problem you are talking about. I had student loans. I mean, listen, right now we have so many people, tens of millions of people in the United States who are facing student loan debts and liabilities, and it keeps them from starting a family or buying a house, and it’s real, and we have to face it. “

—Charlamagne Tha God (@cthagod) December 18, 2021

Harris cited actions Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has already taken to deal with the student debt crisis, such as the cancellation of around $ 12 billion in student debt for groups of borrowers. targeted, and she said it “works to increase student relief.”

But the vice president ignored Biden’s campaign pledge to approve the cancellation of $ 10,000 student debt for every borrower – a pledge that many Americans are still waiting to see come true. won him a number of votes. Biden wrote on Twitter in March 2020 that we should “forgive a minimum of $ 10,000 / person in federal student loans,” but that promise now appears to be in the hands of Congress.

“If Congress sends him a bill, he’s happy to sign it. They haven’t sent him a bill on it yet,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told a reporter. earlier this month in response to a question about the debt cancellation situation.

Psaki’s response frustrated many borrowers and advocates. Nina Turner – a former state senator and head of Senator Bernie Sanders’ progressive organization, Our Revolution – told Insider in an interview that she was “absolutely mortified” by Psaki’s “rider attitude” to Biden’s broken campaign promise.

Voters aren’t too happy either. An independent voter recently appeared on CNN to weigh on Biden’s shares so far, and she gave the president a B minus rating for failing to deliver on his student debt promises yet.

“I would definitely say he kept a lot of promises, but some of them didn’t,” said Amikka Burl, an independent voter. CNN. “He promised when he ran, during his election campaign, that he would write off $ 10,000 in student loan debt for everyone who has student loans. It hasn’t worked out yet, so I’m waiting for that. happen .”

If Biden doesn’t keep that promise anytime soon, however, lawmakers want the president to extend the hiatus on student loan payments after Feb. 1 to ensure borrowers aren’t stuck with additional monthly bills they can not afford. New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter, the delay in the passage of Build Back Better should be ammunition for Biden to take matters into his own hands.

“With the BBB delay, child tax credits will expire and student loans will restart in a few weeks,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Working families could lose thousands of dollars / month as prices rise. @POTUS to act on student loans as soon as possible – with a moratorium or cancellation. “