We applaud Representatives Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Alma Adams and House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters for introducing the House companion to the Schumer/Warren resolution calling for broad-based federal student debt cancellation via executive action. Cancelling substantial student debt will provide both immediate financial relief to millions of Americans, and crucial economic stimulus for everyone during this protracted crisis — boosting GDP and job creation at a time of intense labor shocks and economic contraction.
It is deeply disappointing that Congress did not act to extend the federal student loan suspension in the COVID relief bill. This increases the urgency for President-Elect Biden to act, both by extending the pause on student loan payments and by cancelling federal student loan debt.
Private equity pillaging of the retail industry has cost over half a million jobs amid over 18,000 store closures through February 2020, according to a new study, the first to examine job losses at the state level. The job losses occurred in every state, with more than 10,000 jobs lost in 20 states and more than 30,000 lost in California, Florida, and New York.
The FDIC’s ILC rule threatens state-level consumer protections, further erodes the traditional separation between banking and commerce, and jeopardizes the safety and soundness of the financial system and the economy as a whole.
In October, AFR joined 76 other organizations to call on Secretary DeVos to extend the federal student loan suspension. We are glad that Secretary DeVos has heeded this call, extending the suspension through the end of January 2021. But we still need a long term solution. We look forward to seeing the incoming Biden administration extend the federal student loan suspension even further, ensure all federal student loan borrowers are covered, and provide crucial relief to millions by cancelling federal student debt via executive action.
The Treasury Secretary has the authority to drive an ambitious agenda for economic, racial, and climate justice, and to use financial regulation as an important tool of that work. As Yellen has herself noted in recent remarks, this moment of crisis has made it particularly clear that a new administration needs to not only undo the dangerous Trump administration deregulation of Wall Street, but also move well beyond the preceding status quo.
