Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On New Letter Urging The Biden Administration To Do More To Help Student Loan Borrowers

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on a letter sent today with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Alex Padilla (D-CA) and others to the Secretary of Education urging the expansion of student debt relief. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Today, I sent a letter with several of my Democratic colleagues – including Senators Warren, Padilla, and Sanders – to the Secretary of Education urging him to continue the department’s expansion of student debt relief to working and middle-class borrowers.

The Biden Administration has already taken historic steps to reduce the burden of student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans. But following the Supreme Court’s cruel, abrupt blocking of student debt relief, too many borrowers – too many – remain saddled with massive – in many cases, unbearable – amounts of debt. We can and we must do more to help these borrowers.

So, as the Education Department is engaged in the rulemaking process for student debt relief, our letter specifically urges the Administration to:

One: eliminate all debt that exceeds the original principal balance of the loan.

Two: provide full cancellation for borrowers who have repaid enough to cover their original principal.

Three: extend relief to borrowers victimized by student loan servicer misconduct or error, and other commonsense measures to help borrowers.

I thank Senators Warren, Padilla, and Sanders, as well as Representatives Pressley, Omar and Wilson for their leadership on this letter, and I look forward to working with the Biden Administration to make sure relief reaches every borrower in need.

###