Statement: Roosevelt Institute Responds to Student Debt Emergency Relief Act
New York, NY—President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will allow a two-month reprieve from paying student loans for the nation’s more than 42 million federal student loan borrowers during this national emergency.
Today, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) proposed a measure, the Student Debt Emergency Relief Act that goes even further. Under Rep. Pressley’s plan, the government would assume all loan payment obligations during the declared National Emergency around the Coronavirus and guarantee a minimum of $30,000 of cancellation for all borrowers.
Responding to the news, Roosevelt Vice President of Research Julie Margetta Morgan is hopeful that there will be bipartisan support for solving the student debt crisis today and into the future:
“Student loan borrowers were in crisis even when our economy was stronger than it is right now—and the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic will send them over the brink. Rep. Pressley’s bill comes at a critical time. I’m hopeful that this bill is a pathway to a national, bipartisan effort to cancel student loan debt and end the $1.6 trillion student loan burden that is crippling our economy.”
The Roosevelt Institute believes in the promise of higher education: a system that is accessible and affordable to all. To get there, it’s time for bold new ideas—from student debt cancellation to debt-free college—that can deliver on this promise. To learn more about how we are achieving this click here.
About the Roosevelt Institute
The Roosevelt Institute brings together multiple generations of thinkers and leaders to help drive key economic and social debates. With a focus on curbing corporate power and reclaiming public power, Roosevelt is helping people understand that the economy is shaped by choices—via institutions and the rules that structure markets—while also exploring the economics of race and gender and the changing 21st-century economy. Roosevelt is armed with a transformative vision for the future, working to move the country toward a new economic and political system: one built by many for the good of all.
To keep up to date with the Roosevelt Institute, please visit us on Twitter or follow our work at #RewriteTheRules.
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