Schumer tells Biden he can cancel student debt with a 'flick of a pen'

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is lending his powerful voice to the movement to cancel student debt.

Schumer on Monday joined with three fellow New Yorkers who were recently elected to Congress: Ritchie Torres, Mondaire Jones, and, by video chat, Jamaal Bowman. In an outdoor press conference, Schumer joined their call for President-elect Joe Biden to make student debt forgiveness a priority — in fact, Schumer said he should do it "on the first day he becomes president" with an executive order.

Schumer, Bowman, Jones, and Torres are asking Biden to cancel $50,000 worth of debt for anyone making less than $125,000 per year. "You don't need Congress. You just need the flick of a pen," Schumer said on Monday. Schumer also said Biden has been supportive of canceling debt, but still wants to examine the legality of using executive action to do so.

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Schumer, along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), co-wrote an opinion article published Friday in Blavity that further argued how student debt disproportionately hurts Black and brown Americans, and how Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris could quickly cancel it.