- Some of the country's leading unions sent the White House a letter calling for broad student debt relief, per Politico.
- It's not the first time organized labor has taken a stand for more student loan forgiveness.
- Biden has continually spoken about the importance of upholding organized labor.
As President Joe Biden inches closer to making a decision on student-loan forgiveness, leaders of major unions and the largest labor federation in the country want more than what he seems poised to deliver.
In a letter obtained by Politico, the heads of the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT, NEA, and SEIU — who together represent workers in education, warehouses, restaurants, and more — called on the administration to "'enact robust student loan forgiveness" that isn't subject to income caps and doesn't require arduous paperwork.
The letter comes after reports that Biden is considering only forgiving debt for borrowers who make less than $150,000 or $300,000 for married couples. Critics say these requirements could cause a "paperwork nightmare."
Labor leaders noted in the letter that the majority of borrowers "are not attending Ivy League or other elite colleges." That might be a reference to remarks from Biden in a February 2021 town hall, where he said he would not enact $50,000 in student loan forgiveness.
"I will not make that happen. It depends on whether or not you go to a private university or public university," Biden said. "It depends on the idea that I say to a community, 'I'm going to forgive the debt…' — the billions of dollars in debt for people who have gone to Harvard and Yale and Penn."
The Brookings Institute found that, as of 2014, the most recent year for which data was available, Harvard students owed $1.2 billion in debt. University of Pennsylvania students owed $2.1 billion, while Yale students were sitting on $760 million in debt.
This isn't the first time labor leaders have joined the push for broad student-loan forgiveness. In May, Insider reported that the AFL-CIO's Liz Shuler was pushing the president to cancel student debt, saying at the time that "organized labor was built on the foundation of creating a pathway to the middle class for everyone, but skyrocketing student loan debt has become an insurmountable obstacle to achieving this goal."
Labor unions are a key constituency for the Biden administration, with the president continually affirming his support for organized labor — and even inviting union organizers to the White House.
"In my White House, you'll always be welcome. You'll always be welcome. Labor will always be welcome," Biden said in remarks honoring unions. "I intend to be the most pro-union President leading the most pro-union administration in American history."
Recent reports have suggested Biden is considering $10,000 in relief for borrowers making under $150,000 a year, and that announcement will likely be made in July or August, closer to when the pandemic pause on student-loan payments is set to end after August 31.
But the idea of subjecting the relief to thresholds has some Democratic lawmakers and experts, along with the union leaders, worried. Insider previously reported on the administrative burden verifying incomes for millions of borrowers would be, and Mike Pierce, executive director of nonprofit Student Borrower Protection Center, said income caps would likely "end up making it hard or impossible for the lowest-income people to actually get their debt canceled."
And New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said $10,000 in relief, with income caps, would anger "the people who need forgiveness the most."
Republican lawmakers, on the other hand, have slammed the idea of broad relief, with some saying it will cost taxpayers, exacerbate inflation, and serve as a bribe to Democratic voters. But as millions of borrowers await an announcement of relief, advocates want to ensure Biden isn't missing an opportunity to make a significant impact for as many people as possible.