Far-left Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was quick to jump to the defense of the choice of the Biden administration to officially cancel thousands of dollars in federal student loan debt.
While speaking on the Sunday episode of ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Sanders went off on Republicans and the few Democrats who tried to issue criticism against Biden’s decision to unilaterally forgive up to $10,000 for most borrowers. Sanders stated that Biden “did the right thing” and called for a more radical policy to go further to make public colleges tuition-free.
“I know it is shocking to some Republicans that the government, on occasion, does something to benefit working families and low-income people,” stated Sanders. “I don’t hear any of these Republicans squawking when we give massive tax breaks to billionaires, when we have an effective tax rate today, such that the 1% having a lower effective tax rate than working people.”
“We have major corporations in a given year don’t pay a nickel in federal taxes,” he went on. “That’s okay, but suddenly when we do something for working people, it is a terrible idea.”
“I was in Boston last week and I was talking to nurses, and these nurses were telling me that they are working in some cases two jobs, outrageous hours partly in order to pay for the student debts that they have accumulated. So in my view, the president did the right thing, and we have got to be really thinking about higher education in general and in my view, at a time when hundreds of thousands of bright, young people can’t even afford to go to college, if we’re going to be competitive in a global economy, we need to make public colleges and universities tuition-free.”
a sizable number of Congressional Democrats that are embroiled in extremely contested midterm races have stepped up to criticize the student loan decision from Old Uncle Joe. In statements made this past Wednesday, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) claimed that the canceling of the debt “doesn’t address the root problems that make college unaffordable.”
Vulnerable Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) stated that this choice from Biden is “no way to make policy” and went further to call out the choice to soundly sidestep Congress for the decision.
Another rep who is running for Senate in Ohio, Rep. Tim Ryan, stated that this choice “sends the wrong message to the millions of Ohioans without a degree working just as hard to make ends meet.”
Sanders was quick to call out and denounce the criticism from his Democratic colleagues.
“Well, the truth is, in a sense that criticism is correct but the answer is not to deny help to people who cannot deal with these horrendous student debts who were delaying getting married, delaying even having children,” he exclaimed. “The answer is that maybe just maybe we want to have a government that works for all working people and not just the people on top.”