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Massachusetts lawmakers are venturing forward in the fight to eliminate student loan debt, calling for President Joe Biden to cancel $50,000 in debt for each of the roughly 44 million Americans who are burdened with federal student loans.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren have been vocal supporters of the measure and will be joined by several of their colleagues at a press conference on Thursday to reintroduce legislation urging President Biden to use his executive power to act. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Rep. Alma Adams, Squad Member Rep. Ilhan Omar, and newly elected Rep. Mondaire Jones will also make appearances.

“We are here today to introduce our proposal to cancel $50,000 in student debt and take a huge burden off so many people in America. College should be a ladder up, for too many people debt is the anchor that weighs them down and they rarely overcome it,” Schumer said.

“This is also a civil rights issue. A disproportionate burden of student debt falls on people of color oftentimes because they were taken advantage of by a lot of these awful, despicable disgusting…for-profit colleges, and then these poor folks, they don’t even have a degree and then they can’t get a good job. All they have is this debt,” Schumer continued.

The argument to cancel student loan debt ramped up amidst the global pandemic where Black and brown borrowers in particular have suffered tremendously and disproportionately, accumulating a majority of the nation’s $1.6 trillion student loan debt.

“All on his own, President-elect Biden will have the ability to administratively cancel billions of dollars in student loan debt using the authority that Congress has already given to the secretary of Education,” Warren said during a Senate Banking Committee hearing in December according to The Hill. “This is the single most effective economic stimulus that is available through executive action.”

Prior to Inauguration, 325 organizations re-released a signed letter asking the Biden-Harris administration to consider cancelling student debt.

Biden’s administration supports legislation that would cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt, which is not included in his $1.9 trillion stimulus package. Under one of Biden’s recently signed executive orders, he extended the pause on payments to conclude on Oct. 1.

This is a developing story that will be updated as information becomes readily available.

SEE ALSO:

Here’s Why We Need To Cancel Student Loan Debt. Period.

#FreeGame: What You Need To Know About The Viral Post On Student Loan Payments

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