Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the outspoken congresswoman from New York, says she made a student loan debt payment while sitting in her chair preparing to make a statement on the subject of student loan forgiveness. She claims she now owes $19,000, using the moment to attack Republicans, as if they are responsible for her owing the debt.
Despite a major jump in her pay from a bartender to making $174,000 per year as a member of Congress, AOC lamented her $19,000 and says she feels accomplished bringing down her balance, but the country needs to reset and offer full student loan forgiveness. Even the fairly wealthy apparently want the government to pay their debt for them.
“I literally made a student loan payment while I was sitting here at this chair, and I looked at my balance, and it was $20,237.16,” she said. “I just made a payment that took me down to $19,000 so I feel really accomplished right now.”
Will Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Ever Happen?
It’s understandable that many people want student loan forgiveness. Even AOC is calling for it despite her high salary. Nearly every single Democratic candidate on the 2020 campaign trail has a plan to offer both student loan forgiveness and to make college free moving forward. Whether it will actually happen is another story.
President Trump hasn’t offered too many solutions to the problem. He feels if a person takes out a debt, they should be responsible for paying it back. He doesn’t think it’s fair to put that $1.53 trillion burden on the backs of taxpayers. Yet, the president did step in to help those who truly need it the most: disabled veterans.
It wasn’t too long ago when Trump signed into law a new executive order completely wiping the slate clean for veterans who were classified as 100% disabled. It also means they were free and clear of the tax burden that comes with student loan forgiveness.
“The debt of these disabled veterans will be completely erased,” Trump said. “That’s hundreds of millions of dollars of student loans debt for our disabled veterans that will be completely erased,” he said. “It was my honor to sign a Presidential Memorandum facilitating the cancellation of student loan debt for 25K of our most severely disabled Veterans. With today’s order, we express the everlasting love & loyalty of a truly grateful Nation. God bless our Vets, & God Bless America!” Trump tweeted.
