Sanders to propose canceling $1.6 trillion in US student debt

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will reportedly unveil a bill Monday calling on all $1.6 trillion worth of U.S. student debt to be eliminated.

The Washington Post reports Sanders will propose the legislation Monday along with progressive Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who is co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

{mosads}The proposal from Sanders adds to the debate over how to address the country’s mounting student debt crisis, as other 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have proposed their own plans.

Sanders’s plan calls on the federal government to completely clear the student debt of 45 million Americans while also calling for public universities, community colleges and trade schools to be tuition-free.

The proposal calls for the absolving of student debt for undergrad and graduate students.

A Wall Street tax that would reportedly raise more than $2 trillion over the course of 10 years would pay for the bill.

“This is truly a revolutionary proposal,” Sanders said, according to the Post. “In a generation hard hit by the Wall Street crash of 2008, it forgives all student debt and ends the absurdity of sentencing an entire generation to a lifetime of debt for the ‘crime’ of getting a college education.”

Sanders’s plan is more comprehensive than those of other presidential contenders, notably Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who earlier this year submitted the first major policy plan aimed at tackling student debt, calling for $640 billion in debt forgiveness.

Sanders is set to present the legislation Monday morning, the campaign announced in an email release.