AOC Slams Biden For Rejecting Mass Student Loan Cancellation
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) publicly slammed Joe Biden after he rejected a push to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt through an executive order.
This is the first time AOC clashed with Biden. Doing so reminds supporters that she is further left than the so-called “moderate” Democrat president.
During a town hall-style appearance on Tuesday night, Biden revealed that he would not sign an executive order that would forgive $50,000 in student loan debt per borrower. “I will not make [lump-sum loan forgiveness] happen,” Biden simply said.
He added that he understood the hardship of having student loan debt because his children had them. He also revealed that he still plans on writing off $10,000 in student loans instead of $50,000. “My point is: I understand the impact of debt, and it can be debilitating. I am prepared to write off the $10,000 debt but not fifty because I don’t think I have the authority to do it.”
Biden’s comments triggered AOC’s fiery tweets that slammed the president.
“The case against student loan forgiveness is looking shakier by the day,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “We’ve got the *Senate Majority Leader* on board to forgive $50k. Biden’s holding back, but many of the arguments against it just don’t hold water on close inspection. We can and should do it. Keep pushing!”
AOC also torched Biden over one of his rationales for not forgiving $50,000 in student loans. Biden warned that already-wealthy Americans who attended expensive private schools would benefit the most out of forgiveness.
AOC tweeted, “Who cares what school someone went to? Entire generations of working-class kids were encouraged to go into more debt under the guise of elitism. This is wrong. Nowhere does it say we must trade-off early childhood education for student loan forgiveness. We can have both.”
The Biden Administration has stated that they would only forgive higher amounts if it is done through the proper legislative channels, an effort being led by AOC and Democrat Senators Schumer and Warren.
Because schools keep raising tuition and fees, encouraged by guaranteed federal funding, student loan debt remains a mounting issue for many Americans.
Outstanding student loan debt now totals nearly $2 trillion and is rapidly growing.