[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 48 (Monday, March 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S1510]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF 2021

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, now on the American Rescue Plan, late 
last week, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law. 
The most significant Federal recovery effort in decades is now underway 
as $1,400 checks are heading out the door to 85 percent of American 
households. Relief for schools, businesses, families, and State and 
local governments is starting to arrive. Shots are going into the arms 
of Americans from coast to coast. More than 135 million doses of the 
vaccine have now been delivered, and over 100 million doses have now 
been administered. That is one-third of the population and much more 
quickly than had been previously projected.
  And our economy is poised for its own shot in the arm. As the 
American Rescue Plan begins to take effect, economists are projecting 
that American economic growth could more than double as a result of 
this bold, strong legislation.
  Already, Americans are more optimistic about businesses being able to 
reopen, jobs coming back, and the national economy taking off. As one 
headline read over the weekend, ``Americans see better days ahead in 
pandemic and economy.''
  After the American Rescue Plan passed through the Senate, a little 
over a week ago, I have been highlighting parts of the bill that may 
have escaped notice, and there are so many. We all know about the 
$1,400 checks. We all know about the shots in the arm. But, today, I 
want to take some time explaining how it helps our Nation's students.
  First of all, the American Rescue Plan provides substantial emergency 
relief to colleges and universities, weighted toward those colleges and 
universities without million-dollar endowments. Fully half of that 
funding must be used for emergency financial aid grants to students--at 
least $20 billion nationwide. And, of course, many students will 
benefit from the $1,400 checks. Any student with a young family will 
benefit from the historic expansion of the child tax credit. But these 
emergency financial aid grants are another way that students with 
exceptional need can access relief.
  That is not all. The American Rescue Plan also sets the stage for 
President Biden to deliver incredibly meaningful student loan 
forgiveness by making all types of student loan forgiveness tax free 
through December.
  At the moment, debt cancellation is usually treated as taxable 
income. So without this provision, forgiving a student's debt would 
stick them with a tax bill--giving with one hand and taking away with 
the other. This would apply to more than 100,000 students who are 
already in repayment programs that offer some student loan forgiveness. 
Crucially, this tax provision would apply to future efforts to forgive 
student loans as well.
  I believe the current administration has the legal authority to 
forgive up to $50,000 in Federal student loan debt, a life-changing 
policy decision that would boost our economy and help close the racial 
wealth gap.
  Twenty years after starting college, the median White borrower will 
owe 6 percent of their debt, while the median Black borrower owes 95 
percent of their debt. Canceling up to $50,000 in student debt would 
close the racial wealth gap by 28 percentage points among those 
households. That is just one of the many reasons Senator Warren and I 
have been advocating this policy to cancel $50,000 of student debt. 
And, as I mentioned, it has become an issue of racial justice as well.
  President Biden, to his credit, has already proposed some student 
loan forgiveness--up to around $10,000. But now, one of the objections 
that some in the administration have had, that students with forgiven 
debt will have to pay taxes, is gone, gone, gone because of the ARP.
  I particularly want to thank Senators Menendez and Warren for their 
work on these provisions. For much of American history, education has 
been the ladder up. For too many these days, student debt has become 
the anchor weighting them down, making it harder to start a family, buy 
a home, plan a career, and so much more. The pandemic has stressed 
student finances even closer to the breaking point.
  Thankfully, the American Rescue Plan not only delivers short-term 
relief but clears the way for long-term relief for American students by 
saying: When we forgive your debt, you don't have to pay taxes on it.
  American students collectively bear more than $1.7 trillion in 
student debt. When you think of young people and they are starting out 
their lives, and there is so much excitement and enthusiasm, and then 
they have $1.7 trillion of debt on their shoulders weighting them down, 
that is not the American way of sunny optimism and can-do. This system 
sprung out of control in many ways. Going after the for-profit 
colleges, making sure they don't take advantage, is one way we are 
trying to curtail it. But for the students who have this debt, future 
actions won't do any good in terms of changing the way we finance 
colleges and how we deal with the for-profits. The best way is 
canceling $50,000 in student debt, and the good news is that the ARP 
makes sure no taxes are owed on any of that cancellation.
  So no matter how their team performs during March Madness this 
weekend, the American Rescue Plan gives every student something to 
cheer about.
  Go Syracuse.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________