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'Great, now cancel it': AOC and The Squad now urge Biden to get rid of up to $50,000 in student loans for all Americans after he extended the payment freeze by 90 days

  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and members of the so-called 'squad' applauded President Joe Biden's move to extend the moratori...

 Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and members of the so-called 'squad' applauded President Joe Biden's move to extend the moratorium on student loan payments - and encouraged him to go further. 


'Thank you! Next stop: cancellation,' AOC tweeted, while her squad-mate, Rep. Ilhan Omar chimed in, 'Great, now cancel it!' 

The Biden admininstration extended the moratorium on student loan payments until May 1, which was set to expire at the end of next month.  

Progressives have argued that Biden can unilaterally write-off $50,000 in debt for every borrower, but the president has been reluctant to do that with the strike of his pen.

Biden has said he'd be comfortable writing off $10,000 of debt per borrower, but last week, press secretary Jen Psaki said the president wanted Congress to act. 'If Congress sends him a bill he's happy to sign it. They haven't sent him a bill on that yet,' Psaki said. 

Congressional Democrats are on board with debt cancellation. 

Beyond other squad members, Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Ayanna Pressley, a number of high-profile party members chimed in. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
President Joe Biden

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (left) and members of the so-called 'squad' applauded President Joe Biden's (right) move to extend the moratorium on student loan payments - and encouraged him to go further

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez applauded the Biden administration's move Wednesday saying, 'Thank you! Next stop: cancellation'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez applauded the Biden administration's move Wednesday saying, 'Thank you! Next stop: cancellation' 

Rep. Ilhan Omar, another member of the so-called 'squad,' also chimed in: 'Great, now cancel it!'

Rep. Ilhan Omar, another member of the so-called 'squad,' also chimed in: 'Great, now cancel it!' 

'I applaud President Biden for once again pausing federal student loan payments for 45 million Americans. Now let’s cancel it. All of it,' tweeted progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders. 

Sen. Tammy Duckworth said she was behind the $50,000 figure.

'Next, let's work to cancel up to $50K of student debt to ease this burden even further and boost our economy,' she tweeted Wednesday. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer supports the $50,000 number as well.  

The problem with passing a debt cancellation bill is that it wouldn't stand up to a GOP-led filibuster in the Senate, and filibuster reform seems off the table without commitments made by moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin. 

Rep. Eric Swalwell, reacting to the news, pushed his bill, the No Student Loan Interest Act, which would forgive all interest on outstanding government student loans and set the interest rate at 0 per cent on all existing payments. 

Student loan interest rates were often set double or triple of what they'd be on a standard mortgage. 

Another Democrat, Rep. Eric Swalwell, pushed his bill, the No Student Loan Interest Act, which would forgive all interest on outstanding government student loans and set the interest rate at 0 per cent on all existing payments

Another Democrat, Rep. Eric Swalwell, pushed his bill, the No Student Loan Interest Act, which would forgive all interest on outstanding government student loans and set the interest rate at 0 per cent on all existing payments 

'This is good policy,' he said of Biden's move Wednesday. 'And looking ahead, the government shouldn't earn profits on students' backs.' 

The White House had previously appeared resistant to an extension and signaled repayment would begin on February 1, before making the announcement Wednesday. 

'We know that millions of student loan borrowers are still coping with the impacts of the pandemic and need some more time before resuming payments,' the president said in a statement. 

Student loan payments have been paused since early 2020 due to a provision in the CARES Act, the first Congressional package dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.   

'Millions of people across the country are still struggling with the ongoing threat of the pandemic. Many of them are student loan borrowers,' press secretary Jen Psaki said when asked if there was a specific thing that led to the shift to keep the moratorium in place.  

'This is something the president thought a lot about over the last several days in coordination and of course in conjunction in dicussions with the vice presient and it led to the decision to extend until May,' Psaki continued. 

In an interview Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris seemed receptive to doing something to relieve the debt burden of student borrowers.

But it was Schumer who publicly called on the White House to extend the moratorium again.   

The Biden admininstration extended the moratorium on student loan payments until May 1, which was set to expire at the end of next month.

The Biden admininstration extended the moratorium on student loan payments until May 1, which was set to expire at the end of next month.


'We've been paused because of COVID. It ought to be extended, COVID is not over,' Schumer said on the Senate floor, earlier this month, before omicron was even the dominant variant in the U.S. 

'Students still have these huge burdens and they're just readjusting to life where they may have missed school or missed jobs or not gotten fully paid. So we need to certainly pause these payments,' he continued. 

'But we also urge the administration to take the next important step in granting borrowers relief by cancelling student loan debt,' the New York senator added.    

In an interview with CBS filmed Monday, Harris appeared to agree with Ocasio-Cortez, who has argued that Democrats don't have a shot in maintaining control of Congress without doing something about student loans. 

'Well, I think that we have to continue to do what we're doing and figure out how we can creatively relieve the pressure that students are feeling because of their student loan debt. Yes,' Harris replied.

CBS Margaret Brennan had asked Harris if Democrats needed to make moves on the debt issue before next year's midterms

Vice President Kamala Harris appeared to agree with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has argued that Democrats don't have a shot in maintaining control of Congress without doing something about student loans.

Vice President Kamala Harris appeared to agree with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has argued that Democrats don't have a shot in maintaining control of Congress without doing something about student loans.


Harris recalled how she had her own student loans to pay off and had a 'coupon book' she would use to send in her check every month. 

Progressives have argued that Biden can unilaterally write-off $50,000 in debt for every borrow, but the president has been reluctant to do that with the strike of his pen. 

Biden has said he'd be comfortable writing off $10,000 of debt per borrower, but last week, press secretary Jen Psaki said the president wanted Congress to act.  

'If Congress sends him a bill he's happy to sign it. They haven't sent him a bill on that yet,' Psaki said after a reporter asked her if the president planned to make good on his pledge to absolve Americans of $10,000 of their student loan debt.  

Harris said that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is working on what can be done with student loans. 

'It's a real issue,' the vice president said. 'Students across- well graduates and former students across our country are literally making decisions about whether they can have a family, whether they can buy a home.'

Harris recalled how she had her own student loans to pay off and had a 'coupon book' she would use to send in her check every month.  

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