By Emily Cochrane NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders, along with prominent House Democratic progressives, introduced legislation on Monday to eliminate all of the country’s student debt while transforming the nation’s higher education system, escalating the policy battle to win the support of the Democratic Party’s left flank.
The plan, which Sanders, I-Vt., introduced with Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., would forgive the student debts of nearly 45 million graduates —worth about $1.6 trillion — and eliminate tuition and fees at public four-year institutions and community colleges. It would cap student loan interest rates; expand Pell grants by allowing them to cover books, housing and transportation; and cancel tuition at trade schools and apprenticeship programs. It would also channel more funding to historically black universities, tribal colleges and other minority institutions
To pay its estimated $2.2 trillion cost, its authors would impose a “Wall Street speculation tax” that would impose a tax on financial investment transactions. Sanders said that all debt could be eliminated within six months under his plan.
“I don’t often use the phrase, but today we are, in fact, offering a revolutionary proposal,” Sanders said at an event outside the Capitol to introduce the legislation. “Today, we are entering a proposal which will allow every person in this country to get all of the education that they need to live out their dreams.”
Under the new bill, states seeking federal higher education aid would have to enter an annual agreement with the Education Department that would include a number of stipulations, such as a prohibition on raising tuition for out-of-state students.