WASHINGTON — At a campaign rally in April, President Joe Biden told a crowd in Wisconsin about his latest “life-changing” plan to cancel student debt, promising financial relief for more than 30 million Americans. .
But Kamala Harris has avoided the issue at her political events since taking over from Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee. The vice president’s platform mentions this only twice and does not provide any concrete plans. While appealing to moderate voters, Harris has focused on policies targeting Americans without college degrees.
“For too long, our country has promoted a four-year college degree as the only path to success,” Harris said in September in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. “Our country needs to recognize the value of other paths.”
In just a few years, student loan cancellation has gone from being a Democratic pillar to a political liability. Once seen as a surefire way to energize young voters, the issue now benefits elites at the expense of those who paid off their loans or didn’t attend college. It has become a cudgel wielded by the Republican Party, which claims to be in charge.
The issue came up only once during a presidential debate in September, when Republican Donald Trump criticized Harris and Biden for failing to deliver on promises of widespread cancellation. The former president called it a “complete disaster” that “makes a mockery of young people.”
“They couldn’t even get student loans,” Trump said.
Mr. Biden had previously questioned the legality of blanket student loan forgiveness, but after progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (R-Vt.) made it a mainstream idea, he changed his mind on the issue. conducted an election campaign. But as president, Biden faces relentless challenges from his Republican opponents. For the roughly 42 million people with federal student loans, hopes of forgiveness have turned to resignation and disillusionment.
Biden’s initial plan to cancel up to $20,000 in benefits for millions of people was blocked by the Supreme Court last year. A second, narrower plan was blocked by a federal judge after a Republican-led state filed a lawsuit. Another policy aimed at reducing loan payments for struggling borrowers was also blocked by a judge after Republican-controlled states challenged it.
On Friday, the Biden administration moved forward with further efforts to cancel student loans. It focuses on Americans who face heavy financial burdens beyond student debt. With less than two weeks until the Nov. 5 election, they face an uncertain future.
Michelle Dimino, director of education programs at the centrist think tank Third Way, said legal uncertainty likely played a role in Harris’s lack of emphasis on cancellation. She added that this is also an issue that her constituents are familiar with.
“She doesn’t have a lot of new things to offer before we know what’s going to happen in court,” Dimino said. When Biden first proposed a widespread cancellation, it was something that had not yet been tried. “Now it’s a very different landscape than it was in 2020, which was a blank slate.”
Harris’ silence also signals political risk, especially in a close election. A new promise to cancel loans will embolden Republican lawmakers who have been crying out for it. For voters who could benefit from cancellation, it’s a promise they’ve heard before.
“The Harris campaign recognizes that this is not necessarily a winning political issue,” said Preston Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
“The student loan agenda is in tatters and is not helping us win any votes,” Cooper said.
Even moderate Americans seem skeptical about student loan forgiveness. A poll conducted in June by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that three in 10 American adults said they supported Biden’s efforts on student loans. , while repaying the loan it turned out that the ratings among those people were not so good. Just over half of Democrats say they approve of the president’s job, and 18% of independents say the same.
Harris’ campaign declined to provide details or answer questions about her cancellation plans.
Her platform mentions student loans only after a full page of policies targeting workers without degrees. At a September rally in Pennsylvania, Ms. Harris drew applause when she said she would eliminate unnecessary degree requirements for federal jobs. She did not mention student loans during her 20-minute speech.
“Just because you need a certain degree doesn’t necessarily speak to your skills,” Harris told an audience at Wilkes University, a private university in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Harris’ comments echo traditional Republican talking points that Democrats are increasingly embracing as more Americans question the value of a college degree.
“Student loan forgiveness may be steering away some of the support Ms. Harris is trying to get from those without a college education,” said Andrew, a fellow at the liberal organization Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom. Gillen says. “Polarizing topics like this pollute the well of other things that have bipartisan support. Once issues like student loan forgiveness are resolved, there will be even more bipartisan agreement.” I think it will show up.”
This is one of the few similarities between Harris and Trump.
The former Republican president said in his platform that he “supports the creation of significantly more affordable supplements to traditional four-year college degrees.” There is no mention of debt. President Trump opposes the cancellation, calling it illegal.
“President Trump will make education, housing and the cost of living affordable again so young people can achieve the American Dream,” Caroline Leavitt, national spokeswoman for President Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, told The Associated Press. We will come up with real solutions.”
Student loan advocates point to Trump’s vague promises, failure to fix public service loan forgiveness, and judicial appointments that blocked widespread student loan relief. “Trump is proud of his work that hurts working families,” said Melissa Byrne, a political organizer who has called for the cancellation.
As California’s attorney general, Harris led efforts to punish for-profit colleges that defrauded borrowers. As a 2019 presidential candidate, Harris proposed a narrower path to loan forgiveness than those pushed by Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Harris’ plan would provide $20,000 in relief to federal Pell Grant recipients who start a business. I continued to run an underprivileged community for three years.
After the Biden administration announced this month that it was canceling loans for more than 1 million public employees, Harris issued a statement praising the effort and renewing her commitment to making “higher education more affordable.” I generally promised to continue.
Aissa Canchola Bañez, political director of Protect Borrowers Action, said Harris’ track record on student debt relief suggests she will keep her promises under the Biden administration.
“This is an issue that she has been working on long before she came to Washington, D.C.,” Canchola Báñez said, pointing to the unprecedented amount of student loan debt that has been forgiven under the Biden administration. “We’ve seen the vice president come out and very forcefully praise the relief that we’ve gotten so far.”
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