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President Biden’s announcement to forgive up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients has ignited enthusiasm from progressive Democrats lawmakers. But the plan’s high cost has put some moderate Democratic candidates on edge.
The Wednesday announcement builds on the momentum from Biden’s summer successes of passing major legislation on climate, health care and veterans benefits. And it comes just a few months before the midterm elections — at a time when Biden’s approval rating has been hovering around 38%, though according to polling from Gallup in the days just before the announcement, he’s enjoying an uptick to 44%, his highest in a year.
The move impacts 43 million borrowers, and particularly targets Black borrowers, who, on average, need to take out more loans to pay for higher education, and take longer to pay it back compared to their white counterparts. Overall, it’s a politically popular decision.
«Democrats needed this,» Andre Perry, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told NPR. «I tend to believe people who deliver policy will win the day. … We’re months away and Biden is building momentum at the right time.»
Republicans immediately spoke out against student debt forgiveness after Biden’s announcement.
«President Biden’s student loan socialism is a slap in the face to every family who sacrificed to save for college, every graduate who paid their debt, and every American who chose a certain career path or volunteered to serve in our Armed Forces in order to avoid taking on debt,» Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said. «This policy is astonishingly unfair.»
Biden has said to Republicans that he won’t apologize for taking steps to help middle- and lower-income Americans. And the White House further pushed their stance with a viral tweet thread posted Thursday night, targeting Republican lawmakers who took out Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from earlier in the pandemic.
