NAACP calls on President Biden to cancel student loan debt

The NAACP on Tuesday called on President Biden to cancel all student loan debt, saying that forgiving  $10,000 in student loans “is not enough.” 

In a statement on Tuesday, the organization’s national director of youth and college, Wisdom Cole, said that student loan debt has become a “racial and economic justice issue” for Black Americans. 

“President Biden, student loan debt is a racial and economic justice issue that stains the Soul of America,” Cole said in his statement. “With each and every repayment extension, you make a stronger case for canceling it.” 

“At this point, just cancel it. $50,000 is the bare minimum.” Cole concluded. “$10,000 is not enough.” 

The NAACP’s remarks come as the Biden administration is expected to announce another extension of the freeze on federal student loan payments this week, multiple sources told The Hill. 

The latest extension will extend the moratorium on federal student loan payments and interest grown past the current expiration date of May 1. 

The moratorium, enacted by former President Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been renewed five times since, with Biden last extending the moratorium in December. 

Some lawmakers have called on Biden to extend the moratorium until after the midterm elections, while some borrowers and other Democrats urged him to cancel student loans altogether. 

In a tweet, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called out Biden for the expected move, citing it as “an insult to every American who responsibly paid debts.” 

“President Biden’s perpetual student loan payment moratorium is an insult to every American who responsibly paid debts,” Cotton wrote in his statement. “There’s no free lunch: this reckless move puts taxpayers  on the hook for billions.”