Tell President Biden and your Senators: Keep Your Promise! Don’t Let Student Debt Relief Expire
Call BOTH of your Senators.
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
President Biden:
You pledged, during your campaign, to cancel at least $10,000 of student debt per person. While that has yet to be fulfilled, we appreciate your leadership in initiating and extending the student loan payment pause through January 31, 2022, as we all struggled to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic continues to devastate Americans’ health and financial security, we urge you to extend the pause on student loan payments further. We agree with the ACLU, NAACP, and Indivisible that payments should not resume until your administration has fully delivered on the promises you made to student loan borrowers to fix the broken student loan system and cancel federal student debt.
Senator Padilla:
We are worried about the impact of the expiration of the student loan payment pause on January 31, 2022, while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate Americans’ health and financial security. Thank you for calling upon President Biden this summer to extend the student loan payment pause through March 31, 2022. Please renew that call and ask for a longer extension. Student debt relief has been a vital component of the Biden boom, and great for California’s economic health too.
Senator Feinstein:
We are worried about the impact of the expiration of the student loan payment pause on January 31, 2022, while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate Americans’ health and financial security, so we ask you to join the call to extend the pause at least through March 31, 2022. We know you’ve joined some Senate colleagues in asking for students to be relieved of interest payments on those debts, but hope you will all ask for more than that. You know student debt relief has been an important part of the Biden boom and great for California’s economic health too.
Background
As a candidate, Joe Biden pledged to cancel at least $10,000 of student debt per person. As president-elect discussing his economic plan, he called student debt an economic burden and said student loan cancellation was an immediate need. But almost a year into his presidency, his $10,000 promise remains unfulfilled, even as his economic recovery plan has provided debt relief on hundreds of thousands of other loans.
The American Rescue Plan included a pause in student loan payments that provided significant relief to millions of Americans, including 3.5 million borrowers in California. The program was extended through January 31, 2021. But now Republicans, who passed the $78.8B NDAA Defense bill with little fuss, have been squawking about extending it further, probably because they know it has contributed to the Biden economic boom we are now seeing.
A coalition of 200 groups including Indivisible National, the ACLU, and the NAACP has called upon President Biden to extend the payment pause at least through March 31, 2022. Senator Padilla supports this proposal, while several other Democratic Senators, including Senator Feinstein, have offered an alternate proposal of at least pausing interest payments on student loans. That should be the very minimum provided to the millions of Americans burdened by student debt.
References
Joe Biden Speech on Economic Recovery Plan, Transcript, November 16, 2021
President Biden hasn't yet kept his student loan forgiveness promise : NPR, 12/07/21
Here's Everyone Who Wants Biden To Extend Student Loan Relief, Forbes, 12/12/21
Padilla Calls On Biden To Extend Pause On Student Loan Payments, 6/23/21
What Biden Can't Do on Student Debt—and What He Won't Do | The New Yorker,