At no time do the challenges and opportunities of the future become as clear to me as when I hear stories like Sabrina Calazans from New York. Sabrina, a fresh graduate from college with debts from her studies, was unable to find a job due to the pandemic and eventually moved home with her family. Money was tight, but the student loan payments were still pending. But thanks to the federal government’s leniency on all student loan payments, his family was able to stay afloat on their finances this year.
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As President Joe Biden begins his term, I am delighted that one of the first things he did was extend the suspension of student loan payments until the fall. I think the Biden administration now has the perfect opportunity to build on this success by writing off up to $ 50,000 in federal student loan debt, so that people like Sabrina don’t start from scratch once these outages expire.
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These skyrocketing college costs, plus the dangers of predatory for-profit colleges, diminishing postgraduate employment opportunities, and the seemingly inescapable severity of generational poverty, are a manifestation of the racial inequalities Latinos face. when they try to climb in the economy.
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The pandemic has only magnified these economic challenges: a recent poll by Student Debt Crisis, one of the nation’s largest student debt advocacy organizations, found that nearly a third of Latino student loan borrowers had their work hours reduced and nearly one in five lost their job or could not find work during the pandemic. Latino borrowers were more likely to experience these job changes during the pandemic than any other ethnic group in the survey. Add to all this the burden of student loans and the doors to financial independence will close quickly.
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As part of the CARES Act passed last year, Congress took action and halted all national federal student loan repayments because we knew it would give struggling Americans more money to spend in their pockets, allowing families to save. more each month and spend more in their local communities. .
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But this is not a sustainable solution to the crisis we face. A crisis of this magnitude requires bold action.
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That’s why the Biden administration should write off student debt to free millions of this burden. The new administration has the opportunity to take executive action to largely write off up to $ 50,000 in student loan debt for borrowers with federal loans. Senator Warren and I have introduced a resolution in the Senate calling for this action. We also have strong support in the House, led by Representative Ayanna Pressley and six colleagues from the House of Representatives. Our proposal is simple and can be done with the stroke of a pen.
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One of my priorities for this Congress as Majority Leader is to keep pushing for relief for student loan borrowers, especially those who have been disproportionately burdened with debt. The cancellation of student loans can help close the wealth gap between Latinos and whites by 27 percentage points, giving Hispanic families across the country a much better opportunity to build financial security.
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At the end of the day, it comes down to basic justice. The covid-19 pandemic has forced us to take into account the endemic structural inequalities of American society, long ignored. Racial disparities in student loan debt is one of the most serious challenges we have in fighting these injustices.
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Addressing the student loan debt crisis will be the first of many steps to provide a critical economic boost that could help not just Latinos, but all Americans, even those without student debt.
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The Biden administration must prioritize this relief and help propel our economy forward. It’s the right and smart thing to do.
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