The Build Back Better plan is scaled down from Democrats' original $3.5 trillion offer. After negotiations with centrist holdouts such as Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz, it leaves out progressive priorities. "I think given how much BBB has been slashed, there is more opportunity than ever to bring the heat on Biden to cancel student loans," she said on her Instagram story Thursday, The Hill reported.
"He doesn't need Manchin's permission for that, and now that his agenda is thinly sliced, he needs to step up his executive action game and show his commitment to deliver for people."
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The discussion on student loan debt has been on the back burner since payments have been withheld due to the pandemic. The issue is expected to grow in February when payments are set to resume, The Hill reported.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has supported reducing $50,000 of debt per student, the news outlet stressed. But Biden has suggested the idea of relieving some student debt through executive actions, little has progressed in that area, The Hill reported.
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Ocasio-Cortez also suggested the possibility of a "showdown" when student loan payments are expected to continue on Feb. 1 after a nearly two-year pause, adding: "We need to organize and prepare actions now."
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She also gave a shout-out to the Debt Collective — a debtors' union that is working to end all forms of debt — and looked to them for guidance on organizing.
Biden has so far cut about $11.5 billion in student debt for specific groups of borrowers, such as those defrauded by for-profit schools, Business Insider reported. The Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, recently said "conversations are continuing" regarding broad loan forgiveness.
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Experts say canceling student loan debt wouldn't actually make money for the government. It is actually the opposite.
"This idea is ridiculous," Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, told USA TODAY. "The federal government is owed more than $1.5 trillion."
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If the Federal Government canceled all student loans, it would lose an estimated $1.8 trillion in outstanding debt. Money saved from the administration of Federal loan programs would not make up the difference.
As proof, the Twitter user who originally shared the claim, cited the financial section of the most recent annual report from the Education Department's Federal Student Aid office.
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According to the report, the net cost of the Direct Loan Program during the 2019 fiscal year was about $62.8 billion. For 2020, the net cost was $102.3 billion. Others say programs coordinated by the Education Department cost $13 billion and $3.5 billion in 2019 and 2020.
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