Liberal youth group pressures Biden to cancel student debt

A youth-run liberal advocacy group is stepping up the pressure on the Biden administration to cancel $50,000 worth of federal student debt through executive action.

NextGen America mailed over 5,500 petitions to President Biden on Tuesday, doubling down on the group’s campaign to get the administration to cancel a big chunk of the $1.7 trillion in student debt. NextGen, founded by billionaire hedge fund manager and 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Tom Steyer, calls itself the nation’s largest youth voting organization.

“Millions of young people voted for Biden with the promise that he would cancel student debt. It’s time he fulfilled that promise,” said Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez, NextGen America president.

Last year, NextGen sent more than 12,000 letters to Mr. Biden, urging him to cancel the debt.

NextGen has also been holding town halls on the issue with leading Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

But a new poll out this week from the  Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School found that only 38% of Americans favor canceling federal student loans, which critics say will only benefit the 13% of the population that attends college and will be offered to wealthy, employed borrowers as well as those facing difficulty repaying their loans.

Last month, more than 100 House and Senate Democrats sent a letter to Mr. Biden requesting the cancellation of student debt, which they said has disproportionately burdens people of color and low-income households. Student loan borrowers have not had to pay down their federal loans since the start of the COVID pandemic in March 2020. 

Lawmakers advocating for the eradication of debt argued that the moratorium on loan payments has saved families an average of $393 per month.

Mr. Biden promised to relieve up to $10,000 of student debt on the campaign trail, but little action has been taken to cancel debt beyond extending the moratorium.