Kamala Harris supports student loan forgiveness

In a historic decision, Joe Biden has selected Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate. Harris will be the first Black female vice presidential candidate on a main party card.

Student loans remain a major national problem, and the 2020 elections could determine the future of existing student loan forgiveness programs, as well as broader proposals for debt cancellation that have gained rapid momentum in recent months. There is also speculation that Biden, if elected, could serve only one term, meaning Harris could have a shot at the presidency in just four years.

So where does Kamala Harris stand? Her positions have evolved over time, but she has expressed support for forgiveness of broad student loans.

Kamala Harris: Past Student Loan Positions

While serving as California’s Attorney General, Harris established herself as an early leader in the fight to stop predatory for-profit schools from defrauding students. Her office pursued one of the largest for-profit college chains in the nation – Corinthian Colleges – and she played a key role in downsizing the company, which apparently locked up thousands of student loans with mountains of debt and limited career prospects. Harris has since been a strong supporter of Borrower Defense to Repayment, a program set up to provide relief to student loans that threaten their schools.

Harris has also supported initiatives for free college. She supported the College For All Act in 2017 (a bill sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders), and she co-sponsored the 2018 Act of Debt-Free College Act, which would have made a partnership with federal state to state encourage to reduce or eliminate lessons at public colleges and universities.

As a presidential candidate, Harris came up with her own plan for forgiving student loans. She proposed a cancellation of up to $ 20,000 in student loans for lenders who successfully set up new businesses in subordinate communities. However, the plan was criticized by some as narrow-minded and clumsy.

Kamala Harris: More recent positions on student loans

As recently as two weeks ago, Harris made public statements in support of broad student loan forgiveness. In public tout the Biden plan “Build Back Better”, which supports investment in communities to achieve economic and racial justice, Harris voted in favor of $ 10,000 in student loan forgiveness for lenders as a form of economic incentive in response to the Coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying recession – a plan widely supported by other Democratic senators.

Harris has also continued to reiterate support for the Borrower Defense to Repayment program, and voted for the reversal of new rules instituted by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that created new barriers for lenders seeking relief. President Trump subsequently vetoed bipartisan legislation that would have restored the original rules of Obama-era Borrower Defense.

Harris is a co-sponsor of the What you can do for your country law, a bill that would substantially improve the Public Service Program (PSLF). The bill would allow payments made under elk repayment plan for both Direct and FFEL loans – not just income plans or just Direct loans – to be eligible for PSLF. And it would allow lenders to forgive 50% of their loan balance after five years of public service, with the remainder forgiven after the second five-year period.

Harris also called on the Senate to pass the HEROES Act, the $ 3.4 trillion stimulus bill passed by House Democrats in April. That bill would provide $ 10,000 in forgiveness of federal and private student loans to economically needy lenders, and would extend the existing free time on student loans and student loans for a full 12 months. Republicans in the House of Representatives oppose the move.

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