Warren introduces bill to cancel student loan debt for millions

A bill that would wipe out nearly all U.S. student loan debt was introduced Tuesday by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a top-tier 2020 presidential candidate. 

Warren and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) in June first announced the bicameral legislation to forgive up to $50,000 in loan debt for those with a total household income below $100,000. 

Debtors with between $100,000 and $250,000 in total household income would have less of their debt eliminated.

Clyburn and Warren said “The Student Loan Debt Relief Act” would end the student debt crisis and lessen the racial wealth gap.{mosads}

“My very first bill when I got to the Senate was legislation to tackle the growing student debt crisis because I was sick of Washington allowing the wealthy to pay less, while burying tens of millions of Americans in mountains of student loan debt. Since then, Washington has only allowed this crisis to get worse — especially for people of color. Enough is enough,” Warren said in a statement Tuesday.  

“Post-secondary education should be the springboard to enable students to achieve their dreams not the impediment that prevents the realization of those goals,” Clyburn added. 

The bill would provide automatic cancellation using data already available to the federal government regarding household gross income and outstanding student loan debt. 

It would not treat canceled debt as taxable income. 

Warren’s Senate colleague and Democratic primary opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in June announced a plan to cancel $1.6 trillion in student debt, following Warren’s announced plan. 

Sanders’s plan would wipe out student debt for all, whereas Warren’s student debt forgiveness plan is capped at household incomes of $250,000. 

Sanders and Warren, both in the top of the crowded 2020 field, are two of the most progressive candidates seeking the nomination. 

Sanders’s plan is backed by Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).