million Americans. The measures include forgiving up to $50,000 in student loans, canceling up to $10,000 in debt, simply making it easier to repay loans by reducing interest rates on refinancing and allowing loans to be discharged in bankruptcy.
With so many options on the table, where do members of Congress stand on student loan forgiveness? CNBC Make It emailed members of Congress from every state to ask which proposals around student loan forgiveness they supported.
Of the more than 500 members of Congress Make It attempted to contact, 66 responded.
Here’s how it breaks down:
10 members of Congress, all Republican, do not support a flat rate of student loan forgiveness.
9 members did not specify whether they support forgiveness or not.
1 Democrat supports student loan forgiveness, but not a plan tied to an “arbitrary amount.”
37 Congressional Democrats — in both the House and the Senate — support measures that would forgive up to $50,000 in student loans.
6 Democrats who responded say they support student loan forgiveness at a lower, $10,000, threshold.
27 members of Congress reported taking out student loans.
5 members are still paying off their loans.
While many members of Congress did not respond to CNBC Make It’s requests, some lawmakers have already made their opinions public. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif., for instance, have joined a resolution calling for President Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in student loans. Senator John Thune, R-S.D., has said he does not believe blanket student loan forgiveness is the answer, saying the Democrats’ plan to forgive $50,000 is “incredibly, fundamentally unfair.”
‘Student loan debt is crushing millions’
About 36 million borrowers would have their student loan debt wiped out if the U.S. government cancels $50,000 in student loan debt, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education shared by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. About 15 million borrowers would have their debts wiped out under a plan to forgive up to $10,000 in student loans.
“I got my degree at a public commuter college that cost $50 a semester. This was a quality, public education that I could afford on a part-time waitressing salary — and it opened a million doors for me. It’s how the daughter of a janitor got to become a teacher, a law school professor and a U.S. Senator,” Warren said in a statement to CNBC Make It.
But it’s virtually impossible for college students to find that kind of opportunity today, she says. “Student loan debt is crushing millions, especially during this pandemic. It’s an anchor dragging down our struggling economy.” That’s why Warren is leading the charge to have President Biden immediately cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt, she says.
But not everyone will benefit. Private student loans are not included in the any of student loan forgiveness proposals put forward so far. Regardless, many believe student loan forgiveness would help close wealth gaps and lift a massive burden from millions of Americans.
“Across-the-board student debt cancellation is a racial and economic justice issue, and is precisely the kind of bold, high-impact policy that President Biden has a mandate to deliver,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., tells CNBC Make It.
Black college graduates owe an average of $52,726, compared to their white counterparts who owe an average of $28,006, according to 2016 estimates from The Brookings Institution.
