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.
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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
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