A senior adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign touted the Democratic hopeful’s proposal that would erase all outstanding student loan debt and pay for it by implementing a tax on Wall Street.
“If we can bail out Wall Street, we can bail out kids who are trying to make a better life for themselves,” Chuck Rocha told Hill.TV on Wednesday in response to a question about the plan.
Rocha said the proposal was inspired by voters on the campaign trail.
“It’s what we hear on the road more so than anything — it’s the biggest economical factor that holds people back, is having to make that student loan,” he said.
Sanders on Monday unveiled a proposal that would completely eliminate nearly $1.6 trillion in student debt for about 45 million Americans over the course of six months.
Sanders said he plans to pay for the plan through a tax on trades of stocks, bonds and derivatives.
“We bailed out Wall Street in 2008,” Sanders tweeted in response to a Washington Post article about the proposal. “It’s time to tax Wall Street’s greed to help the American people.”
The proposal is part of a package that is aimed at making public colleges, community college and trade schools tuition-free, while also ensuring that students can attended college debt-free.
The move comes just two months after fellow rival and Democratic rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released her own plan to reform high education plan.
Warren’s proposal would cancel up to $50,000 in student debt for 42 million Americans by implementing an “ultra-millionaire tax” on families with an annual salary of $50 million or more. The plan would also make two- or four-year public college tuition-free.
—Tess Bonn
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