Education Department said on Thursday that the Biden administration has forgiven $1.2 billion more in student loans for 35,000 borrowers through its Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
"These 35,000 borrowers approved for forgiveness today are public service workers - teachers, law enforcement officials, and first responders who have dedicated their lives to strengthening their communities and because of the fixes we made to Public Service Loan Program Forgiveness, they will now have more breathing room to support themselves and their families," President Joe Biden said in a White House statement.
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
What about the rest of the US? Biden made sure again to take care of police first.
everyone wonders why there is a group of voters in the US who disagrees with both parties well this is it
No, we just wonder why that group hasn't learned yet that voting third party or not voting only reduces how many voters the major parties need to win over to stay in power. Running candidates and voting in the major parties primaries is the only way to change the political landscape until we can get election reform to make 3rd party options viable. And we won't get election reform without taking over the parties from within and from the bottom up (dirty, county, and state offices) because getting ranked choice is done at the state level, not the federal level (without a constitutional amendment).
Yes, but they "voted their conscience" so that's fine. I always think they might as well just save the time and energy and stay home and not vote if they feel that way.
Also, as W. C. Fields once said, "I never vote for, only against." That sure is true in 2024. I'm voting against every Republican on the ballot by voting for Democrats. I'll worry about reforming the Democrats when I can be sure that my queer friends and family aren't in danger of genocide.
All I know is that the Democrats and Biden are trying to push school debt forgiveness to larger groups, and it’s the GOP who consistently blocks it. I didn’t see any GOP pushback for welfare.. err PPP “loans” to businesses though
They’ve been whacking away a smaller groups since the SCOTUS decision. There’s been announcements of those groups over the last couple of years and (by their account) still working on a big one that adheres to the SCOTUS ruling in the case that should not have been, from Texas.
I get emails from the DoE every once in a while that gives updates as well. My wife benefited from one of the rounds, while I (with a much higher balance) have not. If I benefit, it will be a huge lift off my back, but if not I’m not about to deride those who were able to be freed from the debt.
This reminds me of a couple of posts where someone was complaining about how fast food workers were starting to make almost as much as them. One take was to be happy more people are getting paid better, and the other was that someone needs to talk to their management on getting some raises.
I’d hazard for the second one we (the public) need to get people voted in with the objective of being more socially minded rather than those trying to shit on “others”. The MTGs and Gaetzs’ of the political world are not interested in helping others, we need more AOCs and Bernies.
reminds me of a couple of posts where someone was complaining about how fast food workers were starting to make almost as much as them.
which reminds me of the people whining about illegal immigrants "dur toork our jerrrrbsss!!!!!" without a single word about the 1% business owners who consistently hire those immigrants and literally give them a reason to come to the country
The fact that teachers, firefighters, and EMTs sandwich cops in that sentence but you chose to zero in and pretend Bidens only helping cops shows you have a major bone to pick and you're just choosing to be upset, lol.
teachers, firefighters, and EMTs sandwich cops in that sentence
I know a few teachers and one EMT. None of them have received anything close to a police officer's salary since Biden took office.
None of them have seen their workforce balloon or received billions of dollars in surplus equipment from the military/national guard, either.
pretend Bidens only helping cops
My city spends something in the neighborhood of a quarter of it's annual budget on the police. And our veteran Democrat mayor came into office complaining that we don't have enough cops and they aren't paid enough.
This isn't just a Biden issue. The entire party is Blue Lives Matter to the fucking gills.
I know a few teachers and one EMT. None of them have received anything close to a police officer's salary since Biden took office.
Just to be clear my claim was just that this action to the student loan forgiveness program benefited teachers cops, firefighters, and EMTs, but they instead chose to ignore everyone else benefiting and just choose to get angry at Biden that cops are included.
As you've surmised, what you're seeing is likely due to local, not federal politics.
As a contrarian anecdote, my democratic local government removed qualified immunity for cops, and established a set of unarmed cops for non-life threatening work like minor traffic violations. I'd say that provides equal weight to your anecdote showing that the entire party is not blue lives matter.
this action to the student loan forgiveness program benefited teachers cops, firefighters, and EMTs
Cops receive substantially more support and benefit than a marginal amount of student loan forgiveness.
This goes to wages and overtime, housing, medical, retirement... Teachers and EMTs don't enjoy anything comparable. Only firefighters come close, and their departments are dwarfed by comparison.
My point is that Biden did not prioritize police like the other guy was saying - they're eligible for loan forgiveness alongside teachers, EMTs, and firefighters, and they were trying to criticize this development by portraying it as prioritizing cops, which isn't the case.
If anything, as you point out, the other careers make less, therefore loan forgiveness like this proportionally helps teachers, emt, and firefighters MORE, because the flat amount of loan forgiveness is a bigger proportion of their salary. Roll into this the fact that teachers typically have to get a graduate degree, and I'm thinking that this action largely benefits teachers, not cops, who don't need degrees for their work.
The Safer America Plan is a $37B budgetary proposal to hire 100,000 new police officers, to provide training to existing officers, and to integrate offices between cities and states for a tighter domestic surveillance network. This goes above the original $10B in the American Rescue Plan for police and associated public safety programs, passed the year earlier.
Show me the equivalent proposal for education, emergency medical, or fire prevention.
If anything, as you point out, the other careers make less, therefore loan forgiveness like this proportionally helps teachers, emt, and firefighters MORE
"We paid you less so you should be thankful for these crumbs" is some powerful neoliberal bullshittery.
"We paid you less so you should be thankful for these crumbs" is some powerful neoliberal bullshittery.
Sure, sure, spin it how you want, but since this particular act helps groups a, b, and c, getting into a hissy fit and claiming that group b is being put first is blatantly wrong. Do you disagree that this probably helps teachers more than cops?
LEO include jobs like prosecutors, parks rangers, wildlife officers, USPSIS personnel, and a lot more. This isn't your average precinct cop -- they generally don't have student debt to forgive anyway.
So, what? If you’re a cop you shouldn’t be allowed to have student loan forgiveness but all other first responders do? Public workers are public workers dude. They’re first responders whether we like it or not.
Plenty of LEOs make shit pay and are held hostage by that low pay like the rest of us. I know it may seem like they’re enemies, but when you break it down to dollars and cents, we’re actually in the same boat.
Yeah, you're right, they're in our class of poor. But that doesn't make them any better, in fact it's worse. They are the enforcement arm of an inhumane and corrupted government, licensed to kill (but only their own). Their compensation isn't money, what they get is a measure of the same protection from the law that the rich and powerful have.
Those badges mark them as class traitors for as long as they're wearing them.
That's one thing I never understood about their willingness to protect the upper class. They're in no different of a situation from the rest of us, one missed paycheck away from missing rent or groceries.
It's the same reason why factory workers don't join unions or go on strike.
The system is designed to enforce compliance and keep individuals focused on submitting in order to meet their short-term, basic needs. Desperation is the design. When everyone is forced to choose between standing up for themselves or feeding themselves and their families, most people throughout history choose food.