Student-Loan Relief Battle Pits Biden Against AOC, Sanders And More Key Liberals

In an early faceoff between Congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden, several leading liberals have continued their vow to push ahead with a plan to drop up to $50,000 in student-loan debt. During a televised town hall Tuesday night on CNN however, President Biden said he does not support the plan.

"I will not make that happen," Biden said Tuesday night in response to an audience member saying Biden's proposal to cancel $10,000 in student debt doesn't do enough.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are pressing Biden to cancel $50,000 per borrower. Nearly 60 Democrats from both houses of Congress reintroduced a proposal earlier this month calling for Biden to take executive action canceling student-loan debt at the $50,000 level.

Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos blasted a similar proposal introduced last year, dismissing it as "government gift-giving."

In May, House Democrats included $10,000 per borrower in student-loan relief as part of its sweeping COVID-19 relief bill that was never heard in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat who has emerged as one of the most outspoken liberals on Capitol Hill, took to social media to express her disagreement.

Biden says the government should not forgive debt for those who went to "Harvard and Yale and Penn." The president is also encouraging a legislative answer to the problem and not an executive order, claiming a law is more difficult to overturn.

Biden says he supports free community college for all as well as free public four-year college for students from families earning less than $125,000 per year. He also supports changes to the student loan system to make payments more affordable.

The disagreement shows the delicate balance centrists such as Biden and Schumer must keep up between the liberal and moderate wings of the Democratic Party, which controls Congress and the White House for the first time since 2013.