Not one to rest on her “impeach the mofo” laurels, Senator Warren adds another plank to the 2020 Democratic Party platform. Via TPM:
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Monday unveiled a comprehensive plan to cancel student loan debt and provide free public college.
After making headlines by calling for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, Warren laid out in a Medium post her plan to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt for everyone who makes under $100,000 per year. Those making between $100,000 and $250,000 would see that $50,000 cancellation figure decrease by $1 for every $3 the person makes above $100,000…
The plan’s total estimated price tag is $1.25 trillion over ten years, which Warren says would be “more than covered” by her proposed Ultra-Millionaire Tax.
Where have I heard that “$1.25 trillion over 10 years” figure before? Oh yeah, that’s approximately what Trump’s deeply unpopular tax cut for fat cats cost the Treasury. Here’s a quote from Warren’s post at Medium:
We got into this crisis because state governments and the federal government decided that instead of treating higher education like our public school system — free and accessible to all Americans — they’d rather cut taxes for billionaires and giant corporations and offload the cost of higher education onto students and their families. The student debt crisis is the direct result of this failed experiment.
That’s the truth. Reagan was president when I was in college, and back then, it was possible to work your way through school even if you didn’t have a scholarship. You could do it with minimal to no loans because tuition was fairly affordable, and programs like Pell grants would pick up some of the costs. It’s a completely different world for my kiddo and her peers, and it’s not because they’re wasting money on avocado toast and iPhones.
Anyhoo, Elizabeth Warren: come for the courage on impeachment, stay for the nonstop roll-out of policies to address what ails us. I don’t know if she’ll win the nomination. The conventional wisdom says she won’t for a million reasons, including that many of the folks who would benefit from this plan are still enthralled with Shouty McWaggyfinger. But Warren is building a party platform, plank by plank, and it’s impressive.
