"Student loan relief would be torpedoed by GOP debt ceiling bill" - MSN
House Republicans' debt ceiling proposal would slash President Biden's student loan relief plan and undercut potential future student debt relief programs. Biden's far-reaching student debt plan — which would cancel up to $20,000 for more than 40 million Americans — has been on pause after after court orders.
Understand the MAGA Republican scheme
- Deny struggling student loan borrowers any relief
- Use the money saved from helping students to fund tax cuts for billionaire donors
- Make it make it harder for young college students to vote
Where are the struggling students who would be forced to pay for the MAGA Republican tax cuts for their billionaire donors? Who are the congressional reps for these districts? How can you contact them? Check this map created with ArcGIS Online using data from the Department of Education.
GOP proposal forces struggling student loan borrowers to pay for tax cuts for billionaires
Relief for Student Loan Borrowers
Biden unveiled a plan in August 2022 that would forgive up to $20,000 of federal student loan debt for individuals who met certain income requirements. - Axios
- More than 40 million people would potentially benefit from the plan, which is estimated to cost about $400 billion over 30 years.
- The initiative is Biden's latest attempt to address the rising costs of higher education, an issue the Democrat first proposed on the campaign trail in 2020.
- The administration has canceled more than $33 billion in student loan debt so far — more than any presidential administration in history.
Republicans block relief for Student Loan Borrowers
One hundred and twenty-eight House Republicans and nearly all Republican senators on Friday filed amicus briefs with the Supreme Court opposing the Biden administration's federal student debt cancellation plan, which has been halted as tens of millions of Americans await the justices' ruling on its legality.
"While opponents of our plan are siding with special interests and trying every which way to keep millions of middle class Americans in debt, the President and his Administration are fighting to lawfully give middle-class families some breathing room as they recover from the pandemic and prepare to resume loan payments in January." - ABC News
Republicans make it harder for students to vote
Republican-controlled legislatures around the country have moved to erect new barriers to voting for high school and college students in what state lawmakers describe as an effort to clamp down on potential voter fraud. Critics call it a blatant attempt to suppress the youth vote as young people increasingly bolster Democratic candidates and liberal causes at the ballot box. As turnout among young voters grows, new proposals that change photo ID requirements or impose other limits have emerged. - CNN
Idaho prohibits use of student IDs to register to vote or cast ballots.
Ohio requires voters to present government-authorized photo ID at the polls, but student IDs are not included. Identification issued by universities has not traditionally been accepted to vote in the Buckeye State, but the new law eliminates the use of utility bills, bank statements and other documents that students have used before.
Texas would eliminate all campus polling places in the state.
Montana officials – where Democrat Jon Tester is seeking a fourth term in one of 2024’s highest-profile Senate contests – have appealed a court decision striking down additional document requirements for those using student IDs to vote.
Georgia bars the use of student IDs from private universities, has made it more difficult for students at several schools – including Spelman and Morehouse, storied HBCUs in Atlanta – to participate in Georgia’s competitive US Senate and presidential elections.
We The 45 Million
We, The 45 Million is fighting to cancel student debt and win free college with creative direct action. Student loans are a public policy failure. A healthy democracy understands the importance of an educated populace. A society where millions of people cannot reach their full potential and live the lives they want to live benefits no one.
Student loans are a poor tax - student loans are essentially a poor tax; wealthy families only have to pay for the cost of tuition and fees, but lower-income students will pay all that plus interest and fees on their student loans, all because they were born into the wrong family. Rather than opening doors for students from all walks of life, our broken student loan system has become a gatekeeper, keeping millions of low-income and working-class students out.
Student loans are racist - Black student loan holders experience the worst of the predatory and exploitative student loan system. Student loan debt is highest among Black families to compared to other families. Black college students are the most likely out of any racial or ethnic group to have to borrow money in order to attend, with 49.2% of Black students taking our federal student loans.
Student loans hurt women and mothers. Women are the majority of student debt holders and hold the most debt. 58% of all student debt is held by women, and women are 56.5% of student financial aid recipients. Women do not receive the same economic benefits from a college education that their male counterparts do. They make up the majority of workers in professions that have low salaries yet require a college degree, like early childhood education and social work. During the pandemic, women lost four times as many jobs as men. An entire generation of gains for women in the workplace was essentially wiped out. Women are also more likely to have high student loan payments yet make 26% lower incomes on average.
Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC)
Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC) is a people-powered movement representing over 2 million supporters. It believes this is a colossal unfolding disaster: the ever-worsening problem of student loan debt. As of 2020, Americans owe more than $1.7 trillion in student debt. SDCC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that fights hard on two fronts: one, working directly with borrowers to help them navigate the bewildering and frustrating loan repayment system – and two, advocating for lasting and meaningful change through advocacy work and the lobbying of national and state legislators.
"It's so frustrating as a borrower and as an advocate to see legislators step in and try to essentially apply their will onto this plan, when so many people are already in limbo," Cody Hounanian, the executive director of the Student Debt Crisis Center. The GOP proposal sends a message to borrowers that "there is a cohort of legislators out there that is hell-bent on blocking the relief that they need and depend on." - Axios
TakeAway: Vote to stop MAGA Republican exploitation of student loan borrowers to fun tax cuts for billionaire donors.
Deepak
DemLabs
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