Democrats push fixes to ‘crushing’ student debt

Rising college costs and heaps of student loan debt are a direct threat to America’s future, according to Senate Democrats who proposed legislative fixes Thursday and challenged Republicans to either join them or come up with a plan of their own in a pivotal election year.

Flanked by students, a dozen Democrats said states should be able to waive tuition at community colleges, technical schools and “minority-serving” four-year colleges.

They also proposed letting students refinance their loans to take advantage of lower rates, boosting the value of Pell Grants by adjusting them for inflation and holding colleges accountable if too many of their students end up defaulting on their loans.

“We’re not here with talking points today. We’re here with an agenda,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate’s education committee.

Their plan is not as bold as one from Sen. Bernard Sanders, a Vermont independent and self-described democratic socialist who’s proposed free tuition at public colleges and universities as part of his campaign for Democrats’ presidential nomination.

Mr. Sanders’ sweeping plans, though, are driving the conversation within the Democratic Party.

His chief opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, says that under her own plan, students wouldn’t have to borrow money for tuition, books, and fees if they attend four-year public schools in their states, while community college would be free.

Senate Democrats, though, insisted they weren’t riding on Mr. Sanders’ coattails, even if their proposals overlap with those being bandied about on the campaign trail.

“These ideas don’t come out of the primary race — they draw on some of the proposals from across the caucus, which has been talking about the need for debt free college for many months,” said Matt House, a spokesman for Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who is set to replace Sen. Harry Reid as Democratic leader in 2017.

Democrats won’t get far without buy-in from Republicans who control both halls of Congress, though some in the GOP have shown interest in cracking down on schools with high default rates among their students. Rep. Tom Reed, New York Republican, wants colleges with endowments of $1 billion or more to pay out a proportion of it in financial aid for low- and middle-income students.

Democrats said they are ready to work across the aisle, though they repeatedly accused GOP members of sitting on the sidelines and turning down solutions.

“I don’t hear anything from Republicans except, ’No,’” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, said.

Under their plan, the federal government would match $3 for every $1 a state spends to waive tuition and fees for community college students.

Democrats said they will pay for their new plan by ending a series of tax breaks.

On the loan side, the Democrats say $1.3 trillion in outstanding loan debt is “crushing” students and the economy overall, as young people are unable to buy homes and pursue the American dream.

Mrs. Warren said the insulting part is that the federal government is poised to reap $66 billion in profits from people who inked loans between 2007 and 2012.

“That is obscene,” she said.