Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders reportedly wants to cancel all $1.6 trillion of student loan debt and also provide relief to other debtors.
The Democratic presidential nominee that most polls peg in second place in the contest so far is planning to herald a bill for that purpose on Monday. It will be supported by Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the Washington Post reports.
Sanders’ apparent education give-away ups the ante in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, as several candidates have issued statements about how to deal with mounting student debt and the rising cost of a post-secondary education. (RELATED: US Student Loan Debt Hits All-Time High of $1.5 Trillion)
Sanders reportedly plans to pay for this scheme through a tax on Wall Street that would supposedly garner as much as $2 trillion over the next decade. This levy, which amounts to a financial-transaction tax on investors, is something that Sanders already proposed in 2016 as a means of providing free tuition.
The self-styled Democratic Socialist is also promoting socialized medicine in a universal health care plan dubbed Medicare for All that other Democrats have embraced. Sanders admitted that individual taxpayers would have to pay more in order to fund this multi-trillion dollar scheme.
“This is truly a revolutionary proposal,” Sanders said, according to the Post. “In a generation hard hit by the Wall Street crash of 2008, it forgives all student debt and ends the absurdity of sentencing an entire generation to a lifetime of debt for the ‘crime’ of getting a college education.” (RELATED: The Key To Winning In 2020 Will Be Properly Explaining Socialism, Says Bernie Sanders)
The Sanders plan would cost even more than that proposed by Massachusetts Democrat and presidential contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has proposed a debt cancellation plan that amounts to about one-half of what Sanders is proposing. The Warren plan would only absorb $640 billion in student loan debt.