Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has released a public statement about a student debt forgiveness proposal that goes farther than his previous ones, Forbes reported.
In a video posted to Twitter, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president touted forgiving loans for low-income and middle-class Americans who attended public universities, private HBCUs and minority institutions for their undergraduate education.
“I’m expanding the plan so we can forgive all tuition-related student debt …“ Biden said, adding he’d be releasing more info on the proposal in the future.
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In Biden’s education plan on his campaign website, he advocates making public colleges and universities tuition free for families with incomes less than $125,000. He credited former rival Sen. Bernie Sanders and his supporters with the more wide-ranging, updated policies.
“Senator Sanders and his supporters can take pride in laying the groundwork for many of these ideas and I’m proud to adopt them as an extension to what we’ve already been talking about to my campaign at this critical moment in responding to this crisis,” Biden said.
Biden also supports $10,000 in student loan forgiveness of federal loans across-the-board and amending the bankruptcy code as it pertains to student loan forgiveness, according to Forbes.
In the video, Biden also advocated reopening enrollment for Obamacare, lowering Medicare eligibility to 60 and providing free COVID-19 testing and treatment amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
“This crisis has changed everything,” Biden said.
Some view the updates as a way Biden is trying to appeal to Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s supporters in effort to unite the Democratic base.
His language in the video provides evidence of this.
“In our nation’s 244 years … we’ve never, never weathered a crisis that we didn’t emerge from much stronger than when we went into the crises. And this one will be no different,” Biden said. “We can do anything if we put our minds to it. Even the most difficult times bring out the best in people.”
