Bernie Sanders,
Today in America, we have an entire generation of people burdened with nearly $1.8 trillion of student debt that leaves them less likely to own a home, start a family or a business, and with lower wages and more debt than generations before them.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of working-class high school students no longer see college as an option because of their fear of leaving school with obscene amounts of debt.
That is a tragedy not only for those young people, but it is a tragedy for our nation. And it is not what America is supposed to be about.
Our mission must be to give them hope.
Because a well-educated population is not only good for the individual student, but for our entire economy. And if every parent, teacher, and student in this country understands that if they study hard and do well in school, they will be able to go to college, that will have a radical impact on the future of our country.
The good news is that President Biden’s announcement last year to substantially reduce the outrageous levels of student debt was an important step forward in providing real, meaningful help to a large number of working-class families in this country.
The bad news is that the future of the student debt forgiveness program will be in the hands of an increasingly reactionary and out-of-touch Supreme Court.
Now, I would love to tell you that the Supreme Court is an impartial judicial institution whose decisions are above politics. That was perhaps once true, but it is certainly not the case any more.
Today, it is a body with a majority of partisan ideologies who consistently protect corporations at the expense of workers; it allows the wealthy to buy elections and undermine voting rights; it takes away the fundamental rights of women to access abortions; it sides with polluters in the face of overwhelming evidence that climate change is making our planet uninhabitable for future generations.
So, no, I am not expecting great things from this court.
But I also know that change never happens without a fight. It never has in the history of this country, and it never will.
So if you believe that in the richest country in the history of the world, it is absurd that we have sentenced an entire generation to a lifetime of debt simply for doing what was expected of them — getting a college education — then I am asking you to make your voice heard.
If you believe that in the richest country in the history of the world, it is a national disgrace that we lead the world in the amount of student debt owed by our people, then I am asking you to make your voice heard.
If you believe that in the richest country in the history of the world, hundreds of thousands of young people should not be giving up their dreams because paying off their student loans is too expensive, then I am asking you to make your voice heard.
If you believe that in the richest country in the history of the world, we should understand that investing in our young people’s education is investing in the future of our nation, then I am asking you to make your voice heard.
Do it before the Supreme Court hears cases challenging President Biden’s student debt relief plan.
Do it to send a message to Congress that you want action on this issue.
Add your name:
Let me conclude this letter by stating the obvious: having 46 million people drowning in $1.8 trillion of student debt is not sustainable for those families, or for our country.
Thank you for reading, and thank you for joining me in calling on the Supreme Court to protect student debt forgiveness.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
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