Michelle Bowman: “Today, we are focused on Federal student loans. This global pandemic, which is very much still with us, has been hard on…”

“Today, we are focused on Federal student loans. This global pandemic, which is very much still with us, has been hard on Americans in so many ways. One source of relief the Federal Government has been able to provide is the pause on Federal student loan payments. That pause is scheduled to end after January, and tens of millions of Americans will have to resume monthly payments on their loans. Millions of people will yet again be faced with terrible choices between paying off their loans and putting food on the table, paying for childcare, or paying medical bills. Student debt is a national crisis. It was a crisis before the COVID-19 pandemic and it is an even bigger one now. I can't think of a better opportunity to cancel student loan debt. Today, over 40 million borrowers owe a combined $1.8 trillion in loans, and the share of people who are able to make payments high enough to reduce their principal balance has been rapidly declining. That means for years people have been doing all they can to make monthly payments but can only afford to keep up with the interest that accrues. If someone took out a $30,000 loan to go to a public State university but can only afford the minimum monthly payments to cover interest, they can be paying hundreds of dollars every month for years without seeing the total amount they owe go down at all. In fact, many borrowers see their debt increase because they can't even keep up with the interest.…”