White House punts ‘next steps’ on student loan forgiveness to Congress
The White House is pushing back on congressional Democrats who are pressing President Biden to forgive a large chunk of federal student loan debt through executive action.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined “Squad” members Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and others, to announce Thursday they were reintroducing a nonbinding measure calling on Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in debt per federal student loan borrower and nix any tax implications.
But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said roughly an hour later Biden believes Congress should craft legislation on the matter rather than relying on executive fiat.