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- Biden extended the pause on student-loan payments by 4 additional months on Friday.
- Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, said it "doesn't go far enough."
- They want Biden to go beyond temporary relief and cancel $50,000 in student debt per borrower.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
For months, many Democrats and advocates have been pushing President Joe Biden to extend the pause on student-loan payments beyond its expiration in October, given that borrowers are still reeling financially from the pandemic.
Biden answered their calls on Friday by giving borrowers an additional four months of relief, but the Democrats leading the calls for student-debt reform say it leaves the job unfinished.
"We're pleased the Biden administration has heeded our call to extend the pause on federally-held student loan payments, providing an enormous relief to millions of borrowers facing a disastrous financial cliff," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley said in a statement.
But while it's welcome news, they said "it doesn't go far enough."
-Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 6, 2021
Schumer, Warren, and Pressley have not only been leading efforts to get Biden to extend the payment pause - they originally wanted it extended through at least March - but they've also been urging the president to cancel $50,000 in student debt per borrower using his executive powers.
Another debt reform advocate among the Democrats, Rep. Mondaire Jones of New York, wrote on Twitter after the extension was announced that Biden must use "this same authority" to cancel student debt, and advocacy organizations, like the Debt Collective - the nation's first debtors' union - voiced the same sentiment on Twitter.
Even though Biden promised during his campaign to "immediately" cancel $10,000 in student debt, he hasn't yet done so and said he does not believe he has the legal authority to cancel $50,000 in debt per borrower. He has asked the Education and Justice Departments to review his legal ability to do so, but there is no word on where those reviews stand.
Warren told Insider in an interview last month that cancelling student debt will boost the economy and close the racial wealth gap, and all Biden has to do is sign an executive order to get it done.
"The president has the power to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt right now," Warren said. "Senator Schumer and I are going to continue to push for this, but Biden doesn't need any authorization from Congress. He needs to pick up the pen and do it himself."