Up to $50,000 in student loan debt will be cancelled for 42 million Americans under a bill introduced Tuesday in the House of Representatives by South Carolina Democrat James E. Clyburn, the majority whip, and in the Senate by presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
That provision alone in the Student Loan Debt Relief Act would include 95 percent of borrowers, eliminating all debt for 75 percent of them, the sponsors said.
Specifically, the legislation will:
• Cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt for every person with household gross income at $100,000 or less.
• Provide automatic cancellation using data already available to the federal government about household gross income and outstanding student loan debt.
• Allow private student borrowers to receive loan cancellation by converting their private student loans to federal student loans through student loan refinancing.
• Not treat canceled debt as taxable income.
