Democrats target Biden over $50K student loan debt forgiveness snub
Joe Biden is expected to join Senate Democrats for an online lunch before heading to his hometown of Scranton Thursday.
WASHINGTON - The former press secretary to independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign is among a number of Democrats who are not too pleased with President Biden’s refusal to forgive $50,000 worth of student loan debt.
Briahna Joy Gray characterized the student loan debt crisis as a "toxic slew" scenario during an interview with TMZ, adding that Biden has the power to "fix the problem that he created."
Gray said Biden was "part of the problem in so far as that he pushed for student loan debt to be one of the only forms of debt that cannot be discharged through bankruptcy."
A White House spokesperson did not return Fox News’ request for comment.
During a CNN town hall hosted by Anderson Cooper on Tuesday night, Biden reiterated that he would not forgive $50,000 worth of student loan debt.
He said the policy may end up unfairly benefitting students who went to expensive, private universities, like Ivy League schools, over others who attended public universities.
In response to that "excuse," Gray suggested Biden was trying to find a way to paint the policy in a negative light.
Sanders is among the Democrats who are pressing for the figure to be upped to $50,000.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote in a tweet on Wednesday that she and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., intended to keep pushing for the policy.
Biden said he planned to help students who have accumulated unmanageable amounts of student loan debt by changing the system for people who "engage in volunteer activity" and allowing people to work off the debt without being charged more than a certain percent of their take-home pay.
As of the fourth quarter of 2020, student loan debt surpassed $1.7 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve.