Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Urging The Biden Administration To Extend The Pause On Federal Student Loan Repayments Until Next Spring

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding his call to the Biden Administration to extend the pause on student loan payments until next Spring to give Americans more time to get back on their feet. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Right now, across the country, there are 45 million student loan borrowers who owe $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. In good times, paying off a tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands in debt can be a crushing endeavor, particularly to younger people ready to go out in the prime of life.

But during this pandemic, as Americans lost jobs and incomes, it has become even harder to pay back those loans.

Fortunately, the federal government provided a lifeline for tens of millions of borrowers when they ordered a pause on most federal student loan repayments last spring. Of the many steps the government has taken to respond to the COVID crisis, this has been one of the most effective.

Unfortunately, this pause will expire in a little over two months, even while many student borrowers are still piecing their lives back together after the pandemic.

So later today, I will join Senator Warren and my House colleagues to call on President Biden to extend the pause on student loan payments until next Spring to give Americans more time to get back on their feet.

Along with Senator Warren, I believe that the Biden Administration should go even further and cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt per borrower. With the flick of a pen, President Biden could give a fresh start to tens of millions of borrowers drowning in debt. A fresh start, just what they need as the country begins a fresh start as we recover from COVID.

Today is as good a day as any to cancel student debt.

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