Title: A resolution calling on the President of the United States to take executive action to broadly cancel Federal student loan debt.
Policy area: Education

Summary:
This resolution calls on the President to take executive action to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers. Further, it encourages the President to (1) ensure that borrowers have no tax liability from the debt cancellation, (2) ensure that the debt cancellation helps close racial wealth gaps, and (3) pause student loan payments and interest accumulation on federal student loans for the duration of the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 46 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 46

Calling on the President of the United States to take executive action 
              to broadly cancel Federal student loan debt.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 8, 2021

   Mr. Schumer (for himself, Ms. Warren, Mr. Brown, Mr. Durbin, Ms. 
  Duckworth, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Markey, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Schatz, Mr. 
    Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Lujan, Mr. Menendez, Mr. 
Sanders, and Mr. Ossoff) submitted the following resolution; which was 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Calling on the President of the United States to take executive action 
              to broadly cancel Federal student loan debt.

Whereas the United States is facing historic public health and economic crises 
        caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that threatens the 
        financial well-being of nearly every American family;
Whereas even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States also faced a 
        historic student loan crisis, which is currently holding back our 
        struggling economy and restricting opportunity and prosperity for 
        millions of American families;
 Whereas nearly 43,000,000 Americans currently hold more than $1,500,000,000,000 
        in Federal student loan debt;
 Whereas more than 9,000,000 Federal student loan borrowers are currently in 
        default on those Federal student loans;
 Whereas the COVID-19 economic recession and historic unemployment have 
        compounded stagnant wages, labor market discrimination, and rising costs 
        of living, making it nearly impossible for many Americans to ever fully 
        repay their student loans;
 Whereas this historic student debt crisis has left millions of Americans less 
        prepared to weather the recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic as 
        Black and Brown communities, which never fully recovered from the 
        devastating effects of the previous economic recession, have been hit 
        hardest by the devastating health and economic consequences of the 
        COVID-19 pandemic;
 Whereas student debt disproportionately impacts Black and Brown borrowers, who 
        face the worst effects of the student debt crisis, with--

    (1) Black households disproportionately holding the most debt, compared 
to other households;

    (2) Black students, due to ongoing structural barriers that have 
resulted in persistent racial inequities in incomes and wealth, forced to 
accrue more student debt and more often than their White peers;

    (3) Black student borrowers struggling more in student loan repayment, 
including defaulting at higher rates than their White peers;

    (4) nearly half of Black graduates owing more on their undergraduate 
student loans 4 years after graduation than they did when they received 
their degree;

    (5) the median Black student borrower owing 95 percent of their debt 20 
years after starting college, while the median White student borrower owing 
6 percent of their debt after such period;

    (6) Latino student borrowers, who borrow at rates similar to their 
White peers despite having lower household incomes and significantly less 
household wealth, are more likely than their White peers to default on 
their student loans;

    (7) within 6 years of starting school, Latino borrowers are almost 
twice as likely to default on their student loans, in comparison to their 
White peers; and

    (8) women of color, particularly Black women, on average take on more 
student loan debt than members of any other group and are more likely to 
face difficulties repaying student loans;

Whereas parents, grandparents, and older individuals are especially vulnerable 
        to the burden of student loan debt, as people over the age of 50 are 
        most likely to default on their student loans and over 114,000 retired 
        people have had their Social Security benefits garnished due to their 
        student loans;
Whereas almost \1/3\ of the outstanding Federal student loan debt is held by 
        individuals who did not complete their degree or program, and nearly 40 
        percent of Federal student loan borrowers have no degree 6 years after 
        enrolling in college;
Whereas Black students and other students who have attended Historically Black 
        Colleges and Universities have had to bear a larger share of student 
        loan debt because of the historic and continued underfunding of these 
        institutions at the State and Federal levels;
 Whereas student loan debt cancellation for the families that need it most can 
        substantially increase Black and Latino household wealth and help close 
        racial wealth gaps;
 Whereas women hold more than two-thirds of the Nation's student loan debt and 
        must borrow an average of $3,000 more than men to attend higher 
        education;
 Whereas, if left unaddressed, the student debt crisis will worsen inequality, 
        exacerbate the current recession, widen the racial wealth gap, and slow 
        economic recovery;
 Whereas broad student loan debt cancellation is the most efficient and 
        effective solution to our student debt crisis, would help millions of 
        families, and would remove a significant drag holding back our economy;
 Whereas broad student loan debt cancellation would provide immediate relief to 
        millions of American families who are struggling during this pandemic 
        and recession, and prevent them from having an unsustainable student 
        debt burden waiting for them once this pandemic is over;
 Whereas broad student loan debt cancellation would provide a boost to our 
        struggling economy through a consumer-driven economic stimulus, greater 
        home-buying rates and housing stability, expanded access to more 
        affordable financial products including car loans and mortgages, higher 
        college completion rates, and greater small business formation;
 Whereas more than 230 community, civil rights, consumer, and student advocacy 
        organizations have urged student loan debt cancellation for all 
        borrowers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic public health and 
        economic crises;
Whereas canceling up to $50,000 in Federal student loan debt per borrower is the 
        most equitable way to ensure the benefits of cancellation reach the 
        borrowers most in need of relief because that action would lift a 
        disproportionate number of low-income borrowers and Black and Latino 
        borrowers completely out of student debt, including nearly 90 percent of 
        all borrowers in the lowest income quintile and over 90 percent of Black 
        and Latino borrowers in the lowest income quartile;
Whereas borrowers who would receive full student loan debt cancellation if the 
        Federal Government canceled $50,000 per borrower in student loan debt 
        have lower income and assets than the borrowers who would receive 
        partial cancellation if the Federal Government took that action;
 Whereas Congress has already granted the Secretary of Education the legal 
        authority to broadly cancel student debt under section 432(a) of the 
        Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1082(a)), which grants the 
        Secretary the authority to modify, ``. . . compromise, waive, or release 
        any right, title, claim, lien, or demand, however acquired, including 
        any equity or any right of redemption'';
 Whereas, in 2020, the Department of Education reportedly used this authority to 
        implement relief for Federal student loan borrowers during the COVID-19 
        pandemic; and
Whereas, on June 29, 2020, President Donald J. Trump, with the support of 
        Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, vetoed H.J. Res. 76 ``Providing for 
        congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States 
        Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to 
        `Borrower Defense Institutional Accountability''', blocking a resolution 
        that passed Congress with bipartisan support to overturn a Department of 
        Education rule that makes it harder for defrauded Federal student loan 
        borrowers to see their loans discharged: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) recognizes the Secretary of Education's broad 
        administrative authority to cancel Federal student loan debt 
        under the existing authorities of section 432(a) of the Higher 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1082(a));
            (2) calls on the President of the United States to take 
        executive action to broadly cancel up to $50,000 in Federal 
        student loan debt for Federal student loan borrowers 
        administratively using existing legal authorities under such 
        section 432(a), and any other authorities available under the 
        law;
            (3) encourages the President of the United States, in 
        taking such executive action, to use the executive's authority 
        under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure no tax 
        liability for Federal student loan borrowers resulting from 
        administrative debt cancellation;
            (4) encourages the President of the United States, in 
        taking such executive action, to ensure that administrative 
        debt cancellation helps close racial wealth gaps and avoids the 
        bulk of Federal student loan debt cancellation benefits 
        accruing to the wealthiest borrowers; and
            (5) encourages the President of the United States to 
        continue to pause student loan payments and interest 
        accumulation for Federal student loan borrowers for the entire 
        duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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