Transcript
Marc Steiner: Welcome to The fresh Marc Steiner Tell you here on The Real News. I’m Marc Steiner, and it’s great to have you all with us. Some of us don’t realize that 43 million people in our country, in the United States, collectively hold $1.6 trillion in student debt, student loan debt. And I did say $1.6 trillion. And that reality in the midst of COVID got President Biden to temporarily cancel student debt when he froze repayments. That’s about to expire. And though in the process, it saved 37 million people $195 billion. Now, many want him to extend it to May 1. But others, like the Debt Collective, where our guest today is from, want him with a stroke of a pen to just cancel that and forgive student debt.
Discover a demonstration kept on the April 4 of the Personal debt Cumulative, that is an effective debtor’s connection. They might be contacting Chairman Biden to use their government ability to cancel all the pupil personal debt. To start a different discussion on how i pay money for and financing degree, to be sure individuals are perhaps not weighed down, driven for the poverty, and you will straddled with debt simply to cope with college. Today, last February I introduced a discussion with Umme Hoque, that is organizing director to your Loans Cumulative and you can exactly how to combat and you will terminate the pupil debt.
At that time, your debt Collective, a good debtor’s partnership, prepared the Biden Jubilee 100, a loans struck they done-by one hundred some body, one each away from Biden’s basic payday loans Saginaw one hundred weeks for the office. Now about wake of your April 4 demo that was kept recently, Biden’s proceeded reluctance to put pen to help you papers and you can terminate beginner loans is on the newest thoughts of several men and women. And you can we are joined of the Ami Schneider, that one of the student debt strikers, and you may planned with the Loans Cumulative. And you may Ami, invited. Advisable that you have you around.
Too many folks, even with getting the stop, the brand new moratorium to the finance, so many people however are unable to even afford earliest necessities, restaurants, cover
Marc Steiner: We’re going to play a little clip here from y, take us to that moment. What happened on April 4? Who was there? What did you do? Talk a bit about that day.
Ami Schneider: We had on Defenders, and several other organizations decided they were going to do a day of action in DC outside of the Department of Education to demand that Joe Biden keep his campaign promises and cancel student debt. And we’re not asking for just the $10,000 of cancellation, we’re asking for him to abolish all of it. So we were a broad coalition of different individuals who were in the city to bring that point to the Department of Education and bring that fight to the department because we’re sick of being ignored. Their bills are still adding up, inflation was at a record high. So really we’re just here to say, don’t take these loans out of cancellation, or don’t unpause the moratorium and force us back into repayment, and demand that we have cancellation and, ultimately, college for all.
Marc Steiner: Let’s talk a bit about where your struggle is at the moment in DC around that particular issue. There is a real split it seems even in Congress itself with people like Schumer, the majority leader in the Senate talking about wanting Biden to extend it, but you have Nancy Pelosi – And I found this really interesting – You’ve got Nancy Pelosi, who is opposing it because she is funded in part… Let me take that back. I don’t know if that’s a reason. but in part the people who oppose it who supported her campaign run a thing called Freedom To Prosper which opposes this cancellation. So talk about that political struggle. Where is it? What do you think is going to happen? And where are these battle lines drawn?