Elizabeth Warren said cancelling $50,000 student loan debt would give 36 million borrowers ‘permanent total relief’

• Sen. Warren said forgiving $50,000 in college debt could provide “permanent total relief” for 36 million borrowers.
• “That would be the end of their debt burden,” Sen. Warren said during a Thursday town hall.
• The remark came amid a push from Democrats for Biden to forgive the student loan debt before the payment pause ends in May.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Thursday that canceling $50,000 in student loan debt could give 36 million borrowers “permanent total relief.”

Warren appeared at a virtual town hall with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Ayanna Pressley to continue the push for broad student loan forgiveness.

The senator from Massachusetts reiterated her call on President Joe Biden and his administration to “do the right thing” and offer relief to student loan borrowers.

“Canceling $50,000 of student loan debt would give 36 million Americans permanent total relief,” Warren said during the town hall. “That would be the end of their debt burden. And it would aid millions more by significantly reducing the principal on their debt.”

Federal student loan debt totaled $1.6 trillion in 2021, held by more than 43 million borrowers.

The Biden administration has faced mounting pressure to fulfill his campaign promise and cancel at least $10,000 in student loan debt — a figure that some Democrats have been urging him to raise to at least $50,000.

More than 80 Democratic letters sent a letter to Biden earlier this week to “immediately” cancel student debt in a memo before the payment pause expires in May of this year.

The letter outlined the administration’s authority to provide student loan relief to borrowers; thus far the administration has deflected responsibility to Congress failing to put forth a student-debt bill on his desk.

“When Elizabeth [Warren] and I started on this, they denied that they had the authority to do it they don’t deny that anymore,” Schumer said during the Thursday town hall. “We’ve made the conclusive case.”

“The President can do it with a flick of the pen, all he has to do is sign an executive order,” the Senate Majority leader continued. “He doesn’t need a single Congress member on his side — he just has to do it — and … if the administration signs this, it will provide immediate relief to millions millions of Americans currently saddled with this awful debt.”