Transcript
Marc Steiner: Welcome to The latest Marc Steiner Tell you here on The Real News. I’m Marc Steiner, and it’s great to have you all with us. Some of us don’t realize that 43 million people in our country, in the United States, collectively hold $1.6 trillion in student debt, student loan debt. And I did say $1.6 trillion. And that reality in the midst of COVID got President Biden to temporarily cancel student debt when he froze repayments. That’s about to expire. And though in the process, it saved 37 million people $195 billion. Now, many want him to extend it to May 1. But others, like the Debt Collective, where our guest today is from, want him with a stroke of a pen to just cancel that and forgive student debt.
There’s a demonstration kept to the April 4 of the Financial obligation Collective, that is a great debtor’s relationship. They truly are askin President Biden to utilize his professional capacity to cancel the college student loans. To begin with yet another talk about how precisely i pay money for and you may financing college education, to be sure individuals are maybe not overrun, motivated towards the impoverishment, and you may straddled indebted simply to cope with college. Now, history March We delivered a conversation which have Umme Hoque, who is tossing movie director for the Personal debt Cumulative and you will about how precisely to fight and you will terminate all pupil obligations.
At that time, your debt Collective, a beneficial debtor’s relationship, planned the newest Biden Jubilee 100, a personal debt struck it done by 100 people, you to definitely for every off Biden’s earliest 100 weeks during the place of work. Today on the wake of the April 4 trial that has been kept recently, Biden’s proceeded reluctance to put pen so you can papers and you may cancel college student personal debt is on the new minds many of people. And the audience is entered of the Ami Schneider, who has got among the student personal debt strikers, and you may prepared on Loans Cumulative. And you may Ami, invited. Best that you maybe you’ve with us.
Too many people, even after having the pause, the brand new moratorium towards loans, so many people nevertheless can not also pay for earliest essentials, eating, coverage
Marc Steiner: We’re going to play a little clip here from y, take us to that moment. What happened on April 4? Who was there? What did you do? Talk a bit about that day.
Ami Schneider: We had on Defenders, and several other organizations decided they were going to do a day of action in DC outside of the Department of Education to demand that Joe Biden keep his campaign promises and cancel student debt. And we’re not asking for just the $10,000 of cancellation, we’re asking for him to abolish all of it. So we were a broad coalition of different individuals who were in the city to bring that point to the Department of Education and bring that fight to the department because we’re sick of being ignored. Their bills are still adding up, inflation was at a record high. So really we’re just here to say, don’t take these loans out of cancellation, or don’t unpause the moratorium and force us back into repayment, and demand that we have cancellation and, ultimately, college for all.
Marc Steiner: Let’s talk a bit about where your struggle is at the moment in DC around that particular issue. There is a real split it seems even in Congress itself with people https://paydayloansmissouri.org/cities/fenton/ like Schumer, the majority leader in the Senate talking about wanting Biden to extend it, but you have Nancy Pelosi – And I found this really interesting – You’ve got Nancy Pelosi, who is opposing it because she is funded in part… Let me take that back. I don’t know if that’s a reason. but in part the people who oppose it who supported her campaign run a thing called Freedom To Prosper which opposes this cancellation. So talk about that political struggle. Where is it? What do you think is going to happen? And where are these battle lines drawn?