Americans for Financial Reform

News Category: Press Releases & Statements

In The News: How the COVID-19 Bailout Gave Wall Street a No-Lose Casino (Rolling Stone)

In place of a heartless free market of panicked investors who might want to cut their losses and sell, the plan is to simulate real buying and selling of financial products like mortgages and bonds with directed deployments of the Fed’s endless trillions. And they will be endless … Marcus Stanley of Americans for Financial Reform said, “The Fed’s perspective on this is, they want to create normalcy.” But what does “normal” mean in an economy that may be changed forever?

Joint Statement: Narrowing Student Debt Cancellation in Heroes Act Leaves Out Millions

Cross-posted from the Center for Responsible Lending Joint Statement: Narrowing Student Debt Cancellation in Heroes Act Leaves Out Millions We, the 9 undersigned organizations, write to share our concerns about proposed changes to the student debt relief provisions in the Heroes Act. The original Heroes Act text included up to $10,000 in federal and $10,000

Statement: Narrowing student debt cancellation in the Heroes Act leaves out millions and surrenders a key tool for economic stimulus

As Congress considers the next steps to rebuild the U.S. economy, student debt cancellation must remain a priority. Speaker Pelosi said that the third pillar of the Heroes Act is “putting much-needed money into the pockets of the American people.” Narrowing the student debt cancellation provisions in the HEROES Act surrenders a crucial tool to address this economic crisis that would do exactly that.

Statement on the Student Loan Cancellation Provisions of the HEROES Act

The HEROES Act provides needed relief to the 45 million student loan borrowers in the U.S., tackling the ongoing economic fallout caused by the coronavirus with an approach that research shows would boost the economy overall. HEROES includes $10,000 in federal student debt cancellation, which would leave as estimated 16 million borrowers completely debt-free. It also extends the CARES Act suspension of student loan payments to September 2021, giving borrowers a chance to recover on the same timeline the economy is projected to need to return to pre-coronavirus productivity.