Democrat Senate leaders are seeking an executive order to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt in 2021, regardless who is president after this November's election.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., unveiled the resolution to "take executive action to broadly cancel federal student loan debt" amid the global coronavirus pandemic and "historic public health and economic crises," Yahoo Finance reported Thursday.
"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," the resolution read, per the report.
The resolution calls on the Secretary of Education to use "broad administrative authority" to cancel federal student loan debt under section 432(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, according to Yahoo.
"Right now, our economy is in a deep hole because of this pandemic," Warren said, per the report. "Student debt is just another self-inflicted wound."
The pandemic has made it "nearly impossible for many Americans to ever fully repay their student loans," according to the lawmakers, noting 46 million Americans have $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt.
"President Trump has failed the test on student debt cancellation," Schumer said, per the report. "This is aimed at our new president, which is going to be Joseph Biden.
"We believe that he would be very seriously entertaining our proposal."
A more realistic goal for debt forgiveness is $10,000, according to Savingforcollege.com expert Mark Kantrowitz.
'Forgiveness is unlikely to happen, but if it does, the most likely amount is $10,000 because the cost is low compared to the number of borrowers," he told Yahoo.