Biden Student Loan Plan Squarely Targets Middle Class

Mr. Biden has cast his plan as a victory for future members of the middle class as well, saying high student debt has effectively broken an economic promise America offered to young people in recent decades: Do what you can to pay for a college education, and you will be rewarded with a job that can afford the comforts of a home, health care and more.

“An entire generation is now saddled with unsustainable debt in exchange for an attempt, at least, at a college degree,” Mr. Biden said on Wednesday, announcing the proposals. “The burden is so heavy that even if you graduate, you may not have access to the middle-class life that the college degree once provided.”

Even supporters of the move acknowledge that debt cancellation will not reach anywhere close to a majority of American voters, a fact that Republicans have played up in making a case to voters that Mr. Biden has sought to help elites at the expense of everyone else.

Supporters of the move say shaking free of a student debt burden has the potential to transform lives in a way few other policies — and perhaps none available to Mr. Biden through executive action — could.

“Not every American says I’m for this, like, say, reducing prescription drug costs,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, in an interview. “But it has huge depth.”

Critics from the left say that Mr. Biden should go further — and that he will not be providing full relief to the truly needy until he does so.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/us/politics/biden-student-loans-middle-class.html