Bernie Sanders to propose cancelling $1.6 trillion student loan debt
Vermont Senator Sanders, who came close to securing the Democratic candidacy for the 2016 presidential election, intends to free all 45 million students of debt.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFSenator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks after the senate voted on a resolution ending U.S. military support for the war in Yemen on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 13, 2018.(photo credit: REUTERS/JOSHUA ROBERTS)
Senator Bernie Sanders will propose on Monday to eliminate the outstanding $1.6 trillion of student loan debt in the US, two days before the Democratic presidential candidates meet for a debate in Miami.Sander's rival for the Democratic nomination, Elizabeth Warren, also released her own plans for student debt legislation earlier this month, and the topic is set for much discussion among all Democratic candidates.Vermont Senator Sanders, who came close to securing the Democratic candidacy for the 2016 presidential election, intends to free all 45 million students of debt with a new tax on financial transactions, including a 0.5 percent tax on stock transactions and a 0.1 percent tax on bonds.
Sanders told The Washington Post, "In a generation hard hit by the Wall Street crash of 2008, it forgives all student debt and ends the absurdity of sentencing an entire generation to a lifetime of debt for the ‘crime’ of getting a college education.”He intends to introduce the legislation with Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn).
