CNBC
Presidential contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren said on Tuesday that she would begin to eliminate student loan debt on the first day of her administration, using legal tools that would allow her to bypass Congress.
The plan, which comes weeks before voting begins in the first primary and caucus states, adds urgency to legislation she introduced over the summer to cancel the bulk of the nation’s outstanding student debt.
Warren said she will direct her Secretary of Education to begin to “compromise and modify” federal student loans up to $50,000 for 95% of those with outstanding student debt, or 42 million people.
Presidential contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren said on Tuesday that she would begin to forgive student loan debt on the first day of her administration, using legal tools that would allow her to bypass Congress. The announcement, which comes just weeks before voting begins in the first primary and caucus states, adds urgency to legislation she introduced over the summer to cancel the bulk of the nation’s outstanding student loan debt. That bill, introduced with Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., would forgive up to $50,000 in student debt for individuals with household incomes under $100,000. But Warren wrote in her plan on Tuesday that the U.S. Education Department already has authority to cancel student debt, “and we can’t afford to wait for Congress to act.”
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