Senator Chuck Schumer has urged President-elect Joe Biden to
waive student loan up to $50,000 using his executive powers, bypassing the
congress, New York Post reported on Tuesday.

The Senate Minority leader said that it would not take Biden more than a “flick of pen” to do so.

“We have come to the conclusion that President Biden can
undo this debt, can forgive $50,000 of debt the first day he becomes
president,” Schumer said Monday, Fox Business reported. “You don’t
need Congress. All you need is the flick of a pen.”

Schumer’s proposal is based on a plan he had proposed along
with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions Committee, in September.

Under the resolution, Biden would use his authority under
the Higher Education Act to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt
for each borrower.

While he said Biden is considering his proposal, a similar
waiver of $10,000 student loan per borrower is already been part of the
COVID-19 relief package.

“Millions of young Americans, including so many New Yorkers
we represent — and their families — have been crushed by student loan debt,
greatly impeding their ability to begin careers and build the financial
resources needed to rent apartments, buy homes, start families or just simply
build their futures,” he said, as per the report.

“Even worse, the debt load average across New York is
actually higher than it is across the country, and this holds down our entire
local economy, which we cannot afford to suppress after dealing with the
financial devastation of COVID.”

But the opponents to the proposal say that the waiver will
further sap the already weak economy, which has accumulated a record high
deficit of $3.1 trillion in 2020.

Student loan debt amounts to more than $1.7 trillion.