Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Supreme Court Hearing Oral Arguments On Student Loan Debt Relief

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments on President Biden’s student loan debt relief plan that could give tens of millions of Americans a new lease on life. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Today, the Supreme Court begins hearing oral arguments on President Biden’s student debt relief plan—a plan that could give tens of millions of Americans a new lease on life.

Republicans talk a big game about helping working people, but today’s case before the Supreme Court—pushed by Republican office holders who oppose the President’s plan—is a slap in the face of working Americans across the country, young and old alike. Let me be clear, 90% of relief going to out-of-school borrowers will to go those earning less than $75,000 per year.

This isn’t a handout to the wealthy—far from it. This is critical relief to working and middle class families. For generations, higher education was the ladder up into the middle class—especially for millions of Black, Latino, and Asian Americans.

But over the years, the student debt that comes with a college degree has become not a ladder up but an anchor weighing Americans down—making it harder for them to put a down payment on a house, buy a car, start a family, and save for retirement. In other words, the burden of student debt makes it harder to achieve the American Dream.

That’s what’s at stake before the Supreme Court: not just the chance to relieve the crushing weight of student debt for millions upon millions of people, but also to make the American Dream a little more accessible for millions more, their families as well as themselves. That’s all we’re trying to do, and I’m confident we’ll get there because I believe the law is on our side.

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