Bernie Sanders, one of the front-runners for the Democratic Presidential nomination, is set to unveil a groundbreaking plan in an effort to address the country’s student loan debt problem. On Monday, June 24, Sanders will announce his plan to cancel all $1.6 trillion of student loan debt which would benefit 45 million Americans, according to CNN.com.
The plan goes further than any other Democratic primary rivals — most notably Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Sanders’ plan would also not have any restrictions, so anyone who has student loan debt remaining would watch their debt get cancelled as soon as the proposed legislation was signed into law. The proposal would be paid for with new taxes on Wall Street.
Vox Media reports Sanders’ plan would raise $2.2 trillion over the first 10 years it was signed into law with the new taxes on Wall Street.
Warren’s plan, meanwhile, would forgive student debt for households with incomes less than $250,000.
“This is truly a revolutionary proposal: all Americans will get the college education or job training they need, while having all student debt forgiven,” Sanders wrote in a statement on Twitter.
“We bailed out Wall Street in 2008. It’s time to tax Wall Street’s greed to help the American people.”
Details of the proposed tax increases on Wall Street include:
Sanders will also release a detailed roadmap — centered on new taxes on Wall Street — to raise the $2.2 trillion dollars necessary to pay for this program and his other college funding plans. It will include a 0.5% tax on stock trades (or 50 cents for every $100 worth of stock), a 0.1% fee on bonds, and a 0.005% fee on derivatives. Sanders believes that could raise more than $2.4 trillion dollars over the next ten years.
Sanders will be introducing the plan alongside progressive representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Washington’s Pramila Jayapal, who is the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“I am one of the 45 million people with student debt—45 million people who are held back from pursuing their dreams because of the student debt crisis,” Omar wrote on Twitter. “It’s why I’m proud to stand with [Senator Sanders] and [Rep. Jayapal] to pass ‘College for All’ and ‘Cancel Student Debt.”
Sanders’ proposal comes at a time when he is polling in second-place behind former Vice President Joe Biden in the crowded Democratic primary field. Throughout his campaign, Sanders has made education a large part of his platform and it’s clear he does not have any plans to slow down.
“We are going to forgive student debt in this country,” Sanders said during a rally.
“We have for the first time in the modern history of this country a younger generation that if we don’t change it, and we intend to change it, will have a lower standard of living than their parents, more in debt, lower wages than their parents, unable to buy the house that they desire.”
An official announcement is expected to come later in the day on Monday, June 24.