[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 38 (Tuesday, February 28, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S510]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                              STUDENT DEBT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now on the SCOTUS oral arguments on 
student debt. Today, the Supreme Court begins hearing oral arguments on 
President Biden's student debt relief plan, a plan that could give tens 
of millions of Americans a new lease on life.
  Republicans talk a big game about helping working people, but today's 
case before the Supreme Court--pushed by Republican officeholders who 
oppose the President's plan--is a slap in the face of working Americans 
across the country, young and old alike. Let me be clear: 90 percent--
90 percent--of the relief going to out-of-school borrowers will go to 
those earning less than $75,000 a year. This isn't a handout to the 
wealthy. Far from it. This is critical relief to working- and middle-
class families. For generations, higher education was the ladder up 
into the middle class, especially for millions of Black, Latino, and 
Asian Americans.
  But over the years, the student debt that comes with a college degree 
has become not a ladder up but an anchor weighing Americans down--
making it harder for them to put a down payment on a house, buy a car, 
start a family, and save for retirement. In other words, the burden of 
student debt makes it harder--harder--to achieve the American Dream.
  That is what is at stake before the Supreme Court, not just the 
chance to relieve the crushing weight of student debt for millions upon 
millions of people but also to make the American dream a little more 
accessible for millions more--their families, as well as themselves. 
That is all we are trying to do, and I am confident we will get there 
because I believe the law is on our side.

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