由参议院多数党领袖舒默和参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦领导的国会民主党人星期四再次呼吁拜登总统取消每个人最多5万美元的联邦学生贷款。

舒默和他的同事周四表示取消贷款将在大流行期间为经济提供急需的推动力，并有助于提升有色人种群体。但是政府犹豫不决在周四下午的提议中，这是拜登宣誓就职以来首次与参议院民主党人决裂。

舒默在沃伦和众议院民主党人(包括民主党众议员伊尔汉·奥马尔和俄亥俄州众议员阿扬娜·普雷斯利)的陪同下，呼吁拜登政府做出强有力的回应，敦促总统在这方面做得更多学生债务减免。

舒默说:“债务阻碍了人们买车、度假、组建家庭、获得他们想要的工作，这是我们整个经济的一大支柱。”“总统只需轻轻一挥，除了取消5万美元的学生债务之外，几乎没有什么能提振我们的经济。”

但在周四的新闻发布会上，白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)告诉记者，拜登支持一个更温和的提议:每人最多1万美元的学生贷款豁免。

拜登已经采取了一些措施来帮助那些挣扎在学生贷款中的人，但他还没有完全免除债务。

他的努力针对的是那些由于美国金融危机而无力偿还贷款的美国人新冠肺炎（新型冠状病毒肺炎）根据金融援助和学生贷款专家马克·坎特罗威茨的说法，这种流行病减缓了人们偿还贷款的速度。

“很明显，它对许多借款人产生了负面影响，”坎特罗维茨谈到这场流行病时说，这场流行病已导致数百万美国人申请失业。"一些借款人正在苦苦挣扎。"

拜登最早的总统行政命令指示教育部延长对联邦学生贷款偿还的冻结，该冻结自国会3月通过其第一个大规模的COVID-19减免法案以来一直有效。

该行政命令给予借款人更多的时间偿还贷款，而不会面临加息，但它并没有消除学生债务。

拜登竞选时争取每人获得1万美元的学生债务豁免，但这并不包括在拜登政府制定并由国会民主党人修改的1.9万亿美元的冠状病毒减免计划中。

舒默和沃伦周四与众议院民主党核心小组成员一起提出的决议，呼吁拜登通过行政命令免除债务，允许采取行动，同时绕过共和党在分歧严重的国会中的反对。

舒默说:“对拜登总统来说，最简单的方法就是轻轻一挥就搞定了。”。

但普萨基表示，拜登将指望国会向他的办公桌提交一份债务豁免法案。

“我认为他在第一天就已经通过行政行动迈出了一步，”普萨基说，并引用了拜登的贷款延期。"他将指望国会采取下一步措施。"

这给民主党的努力设置了路障。在这样一个两极分化的问题上，在意见不一的参议院推动立法是具有挑战性的，如果不是不可能的话，尤其是因为取消学生贷款不受许多担心增加整体国债的参议院共和党人的欢迎。

国会最近批准了数万亿美元的援助来对抗这种流行病。坎特罗威茨告诉美国广播公司新闻，为每个欠下债务的人免除5万美元的债务将花费1万多亿美元。

支持者辩称，节省下来的钱将作为家庭、汽车和其他项目的现金注入，从而回到经济中，以此来证明成本的合理性，但共和党人并不信服。

“这是一项糟糕的政策，对那些努力工作并支付学费但没有贷款的人非常不公平，”宾夕法尼亚州参议员帕特·图梅说。，说道。“那些从联邦政府那里得到5万美元赠品的极度富裕的人怎么办？这是可怕的政策。”

图米还表示，他不会支持立法推动1万美元的债务减免。

得克萨斯州共和党参议员约翰·科宁说，人们要为他们选择承担的债务负责。他会更愿意支持让学费变得更便宜的措施。

“我只是认为这是一条危险的道路，”科宁告诉美国广播公司新闻。“从根本上说，人们不必履行他们对我达成的协议，这是一个坏主意。”

但主张取消债务的人表示，取消学生贷款债务可能会提振经济，并为有色人种社区提供支持，这些社区往往受到学生债务负担的不成比例的影响。

普雷斯利说:“长期以来，这种说法将黑人和拉丁裔社区排除在外，这种债务加剧了我们国家根深蒂固的种族和经济不平等。”“这些差异不仅仅是奇迹般地出现的，它们是几代人系统性种族主义、歧视和我所说的政策暴力的结果，这些政策暴力系统性地剥夺了黑人和拉丁裔家庭积累财富的机会，迫使我们的家庭承担更高的学生债务，与白人家庭获得同等程度的机会。”

坎特罗威茨说，49%的非裔美国学生通过联邦贷款来资助他们的教育，相比之下，白人学生只有38%。

全国有色人种协进会主席兼首席执行官德里克·约翰逊周四上午在众议院金融服务委员会作证，敦促立法者推进债务取消。

约翰逊说:“从一个海岸到另一个海岸的家庭，无论地理位置、阶级或种族，都会看到一个巨大的负担被减轻。”。“拜登总统最近宣布将忍耐延长到下个月底是朝着正确方向迈出的一步，但还需要更多。国会可以帮忙。”

国会目前正致力于利用预算和解程序通过拜登的许多新冠肺炎纾困提案，让他们绕过参议院的阻挠议事规则。取消学生债务不包括在提案中，但民主党人仍然没有退缩。

舒默说，他和沃伦已经就他们的提议与拜登进行了讨论，总统愿意听取他们的意见。

舒默说:“第一，我们相信美国人民在这个问题上绝对支持我们；第二，如果外面的人发邮件和短信，让总统知道他们有多关心这个问题，而我们内部的人继续推动，这将会发生。”。​

Congressional Democrats propose up to $50,000 in debt cancelation, Biden not sold

Congressional Democrats, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, renewed calls Thursday for President Joe Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loans per individual.

Schumer and his colleagues said Thursday that canceling loans would provide a much-needed boost to the economy during the pandemic and help to lift communities of color. But the administration balked at the proposal Thursday afternoon, one of the first instances of Biden breaking with Senate Democrats since he was sworn into office.

Schumer, flanked by Warren and House Democrats, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Ayanna Pressley, D-Ohio, called for a robust response from the Biden administration, urging the president to do more on student debt relief.

"Debt holds people back from buying cars, from going on vacations, from starting families, from getting the job they want to get, it's a huge anchor on our entire economy," Schumer said. "There's very little that the president could do with a flick of a pen that would boost our economy more than canceling $50,000 of student debt."

But during a press conference Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Biden supports a more modest proposal: up to $10,000 in student loan forgiveness per person.

Biden has taken some measured steps to assist those struggling with student loans, but he has stopped short of full debt forgiveness.

His efforts have been aimed at Americans who are unable to repay their loans due to financial challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which -- according to Mark Kantrowitz, a financial aid and student loan expert -- has slowed the rate at which people are repaying their loans.

"It's clear it had a negative impact on a lot of borrowers," Kantrowitz said of the pandemic, which has caused millions of Americans to file for unemployment. "Some borrowers are struggling."

One of Biden's earliest presidential executive orders directed the Department of Education to extend the freeze on federal student loan repayment that has been in effect since Congress passed its first massive COVID-19 relief bill in March.

The executive order gives borrowers more time to pay back loans without facing interest hikes -- but it doesn't wipe away student debt.

Biden campaigned on securing $10,000 in student debt forgiveness per person, but this was not included in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief crafted by the Biden administration and adapted by congressional Democrats.

Schumer and Warren's resolution, which they introduced with members of the House Democratic caucus on Thursday, calls on Biden to forgive debt by executive order, allowing action while bypassing Republican objection in the narrowly divided Congress.

"The easiest way to do it is for President Biden with the flick of pen to get it done," Schumer said.

But Psaki said that Biden will look to Congress to send a bill on debt forgiveness to his desk.

"I think he already took a step through an executive action on the first day," Psaki said, citing Biden's extension on loan forbearance. "He would look to Congress to take the next steps."

That creates a roadblock for the Democratic effort. Moving legislation through the evenly divided Senate on such a polarizing issue is challenging, if not impossible, particularly because student loan cancelation is not popular with many Senate Republicans concerned about additions to the overall national debt.

Congress has recently authorized trillions in aid to combat the pandemic. Kantrowitz told ABC News that it would cost just over $1 trillion to forgive $50,000 of debt for everyone who owes it.

Advocates justify the cost by arguing that the saved money will return to the economy as an infusion of cash spent on homes, cars and other items, but Republicans are not convinced.

"It's terrible policy, terribly unfair to people who worked hard and paid their tuition without taking the loans," Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said. "What about all the extremely affluent people who are going to just get a $50,000 giveaway from the federal government? It's terrible policy."

Toomey also said he would not support a legislative push for $10,000 in debt relief.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said that people are responsible for the debts they choose to incur. He'd be more willing to support measures that make tuition more affordable.

"I just think it's kind of a dangerous path to head down," Cornyn told ABC News. "To basically say that people don't have to live up to the agreements they've made to me is a bad, bad idea. "

But advocates for debt cancellation say that striking student loan debt could energize the economy and give a leg up to communities of color that are often disproportionately impacted by the burden of student debt.

"For too long the narrative has excluded Black and Latinx communities and the way in which this debt has exacerbated deeply entrenched racial and economic inequities in our nation," Pressley said. "These disparities didn't just magically occur, they are the consequences of generations of systemic racism, discrimination and what I call policy violence that has systemically denied black and Latinx families the opportunity to build wealth, forcing our families to take on greater rates of student debt for the chance at the same degree as our white counterparts."

Kantrowitz said 49% of African American students borrow federally to fund their education, compared to 38% of white students.

President and CEO of the NAACP Derrick Johnson testified Thursday morning before the House Financial Services Committee urging the lawmakers to press forward on debt cancelation.

"Families from coast-to-coast, irrespective of geography, class or race would see a significant burden lifted," Johnson said. "President Biden's recent announcements extending forbearance until the end of next month was a step in the right direction, but more is needed. Congress can help."

Congress is currently working on passing many of Biden's COVID-19 relief proposals using the budget reconciliation process, allowing them to bypass filibuster rules in the Senate. Canceling student debt is not included in the proposal, but Democrats remain undeterred.

Schumer said he and Warren have had discussions with Biden on their proposal and that the president's been willing to listen.

"We believe, number one, that the American people are strongly behind us on this issue overwhelmingly, and number two, if the people on the outside who are emailing and texting and letting the president know how much they care about this and we on the inside continue to push, this is going to happen," Schumer said.

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