DNC Senior Adviser Says NAACP President ‘Wrong’ in Criticism of Biden’s Student Debt Forgiveness Plan

Democratic National Committee senior adviser Cedric Richmond called out NAACP President Derrick Johnson for criticizing President Joe Biden forgiving student debt.

“President Biden’s decision on student debt cannot become the latest example of a policy that has left Black people – especially Black women – behind,” said Johnson on Tuesday. “This is not how you treat Black voters who turned out in record numbers and provided 90% of their vote to once again save democracy in 2020.”

Appearing on Wednesday’s CNN Newsroom with anchors Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell, Richmond, who served as a senior adviser to Biden in the White House, called Johnson “a friend,” but said he’s “wrong.”

Richmond cited the part about Biden forgiving Pell Grant recipients, “a lot” of whom are “disproportionately … Black and Brown students.”

“So this is absolutely going to hit home in those communities, and I think that this was the right decision to make,” said Richmond. “And I think that as people look at it in the new plan and what the president actually did today, I think that they will see that this absolutely helps community of color and those on the lower-income scale. And it’s what we want to do.”

Richmond said that the announcement on student debt forgiveness fulfills Biden’s campaign pledge to “lift from the bottom-up and the middle out.”

Biden announced he is forgiving up to $20,000 in debt of Pell Grant recipients for individuals making less than $125,000 annually and couples making under $250,000 annually. Other student debt up to $10,000 will be forgiven for those under those same qualifications. The president also extended the moratorium on student loan payments for the last time. The moratorium, which was implemented due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will end on Dec. 31. Biden also capped repayment of undergraduate loans at 5 percent of monthly income.

Watch above, via CNN.