Pete Buttigieg Dodges and Pushes Vaccines When Asked Why Biden Doesn’t Just Cancel Student Debt
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Thursday pushed “vaccines and boosters” when asked why the Biden administration doesn’t just cancel student debt.
“What’s going to change in the next few months that’s going to impact student loans?” MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle asked Buttigieg in a morning interview, alluding to Biden’s announcement this week that a deadline for loan repayments to resume would move from January to the end of May. Loan payments were paused in March 2020 by former President Donald Trump at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s like you’re just kicking the can down the road,” Ruhle said. “Are you going to cancel student loans or not?”
Buttigieg does not personally hold authority to act on the issue, which falls under the purview of one of his colleagues in the White House Cabinet, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. But he opted against correcting Ruhle, and instead advised borrowers to become vaccinated against Covid-19.
“Part of what we know is that, you know, people’s ability to respond to economic conditions is impacted by the pandemic,” Buttigieg replied. “And nobody has a crystal ball, but what we do have are specific tools for fighting the pandemic — namely, vaccines and boosters, which is our why our administration and the president continues to lead on making sure every American has access and good information on why that’s needed.”
Biden promised during his 2020 campaign to seek loan forgiveness of up to $10,000 for every American with student loan debt, and White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain disclosed in April the White House had asked the Justice Department and the Department of Education to produce a memo assessing Biden’s authority to forgive student loans with an executive order. A Freedom of Information Act request revealed in November the department produced the memo the same month Klain mentioned it, though the White House opted against making any further references to it.
Watch above via MSNBC.
