FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM ASSISTANT DEMOCRATIC LEADER CONGRESSMAN JAMES CLYBURN!
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn released the newest edition of the Clyburn Chronicles podcast with Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King and Chairman of the Drum Major Institute. Mr. King joined Congressman Clyburn to discuss the organizing of the original March on Washington on August 28, 1963, and the 60th anniversary march that will take place on Saturday, August 26, 2023.
“That day, my dad’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech stood out, and maybe that’s why people think it was just him,” said Mr. King. “But in reality, it was a cadre of people. He could not have done that himself. It had to be many organizations working together to lay the foundation and groundwork for our freedom.”
The 1963 March on Washington was attended by over 250,000 people and organized by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the National Urban League. This year’s march has partnered with over a hundred civil rights, faith, labor, and cultural organizations.
“It’s not a commemoration. We’re not celebrating. We are recommitting, quadrupling our efforts,” Mr. King continued. “This year is the largest coalition we have had. It is not just the African American community. It is the labor, LGBTQIA, Jewish, Islamic, and Asian communities. All of those who’ve been silenced. Good people have to come together. And that's what this is all about.”
Congressman Clyburn and Mr. King also discussed the challenges that continue to stand in the way of progress, such as recent legislation and Supreme Court decisions rolling back fundamental rights, and the importance of voting in carrying Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vison forward and preserving American democracy.
“That's why we want to come together. We want to recommit ourselves this weekend to that notion, and fundamental to all of it is voting. And we have got to do everything we possibly can to make sure that people cast their votes,” Congressman Clyburn emphasized. “Don't just get registered. But get registered and help mobilize and make sure that we turn out the vote next year because nothing short of democracy is at stake.”
“ ‘A voteless people is a powerless people,’ ” Mr. King said, quoting his father. “Martin Luther King Jr. told us that the short step that we take to that ballot box could make the difference. The 2024 election will be the most consequential of our lifetimes.”
To hear the conversation, please click here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2J7NmlAZT... ********
ASSISTANT DEMOCRATIC LEADER CLYBURN: THE STUDENT LOAN DEBT RELIEF PROGRAM BIDEN GOT RIGHT
In the face of despair of borrowers and advocates across the country, President Joe Biden responded to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down his transformative plan to forgive $400 billion in student loan debt by assuring the American people: “We’re not going to waste any time on this. We’re getting moving on it. It’s going to take longer, but we’re getting at it right away.”
And they have. Moving forward, the Biden-Harris administration will attempt to use its “settlement and compromise” authority under the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide relief. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona also announced plans to make repayment more affordable when payments resume in October and to suspend penalties for missed payments.
Significant steps are being taken and deserve to be noted. Previous to the adverse Supreme Court decision that his administration is searching for ways to address, President Biden took perhaps the most significant step any president has taken to tackle the burden of student loan debt, by reforming the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
PSLF was created in 2007 by Congress to eliminate student loan debt for those who dedicate 10 years of service to our country’s public schools, military, civil service or nonprofit organizations. To receive this benefit, eligible borrowers must have made 120 payments, the equivalent of 10 years’ worth, while working for a qualifying party. But the program failed to function as designed.
The U.S. Department of Education reported that from November 2020 through April 2021, only two out of every 100 applicants were approved. Further, loan servicers responsible for managing the program were sued for sabotaging borrowers’ efforts to achieve forgiveness. Loan servicer Navient would eventually be forced to pay a $1.7 billion settlement. During the 2020 presidential campaign, candidate Joe Biden promised: “A Biden administration will take concrete action to address the student debt crisis in our country. We will … make student loan forgiveness work for public service.” He has kept that promise.
In October 2021, the Biden-Harris administration announced a one-year limited PSLF waiver to ensure all prior payments student borrowers made would be credited, regardless of loan program. The requirements were simplified for a payment to count towards public service relief, eliminated barriers to the program for military service members and federal employees, offered to review previously denied applications and simplified the application process. Those reforms breathed new life into the troubled program.
From October 2021 through July 2023, President Biden’s Department of Education approved $45 billion in student loan debt relief for more than 653,800 borrowers. As of April 1, more than 9,000 South Carolinians have had nearly $732 million forgiven through the program. That number is historic and even more impressive once you realize that only 7,000 borrowers total had been approved under the previous administration.
One of the beneficiaries of the Biden reforms is Chamarlyn Fairley, an employee with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in South Carolina. Dr. Fairley participated in an informational webinar I hosted last year to share her experience with the program. She explained: “The PSLF program is life changing for people like me who thought they would never be able to pay off their loans. To have over $100,000 in student loans forgiven for doing what I love is rewarding, but it also recognizes the dedication that those of us in public service have to our country and communities.” She is far from alone. There are hundreds of thousands of borrowers with incredible stories like hers.
This effort builds on the $5 billion in relief the Education Department provided 491,000 borrowers who have a total and permanent disability and the $22 billion provided to nearly 1.3 million borrowers whose schools cheated them out of their promised education, hastily closed or are covered by related court settlements, including those who attended the now-defunct ITT Technical Institute. And last month the Biden-Harris administration announced $39 billion in relief for 804,000 borrowers who have been on income-driven repayment plans for 20 to 25 years. That’s more than $111 billion in student loan debt cancellation in less than 2 years.
So, why don’t we talk about it? That $111 billion will change the lives of more than 3.2 million Americans — Americans with disabilities, Americans who have been defrauded, those who’ve spent decades paying their loans, teachers, firefighters, veterans and others who have dedicated a significant portion of their lives to public service. That must count for something.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness is the student loan debt relief program that President Biden made work, that some Republicans tried to eliminate and that Democrats fought hard to maintain and improve. Folks are quick to call out the president and elected officials when issues that need to be addressed aren’t. That’s the beauty of a democracy. People have the right to exercise their voice — and their vote — without retribution. But perhaps we should celebrate accomplishments and successes just as fervently. I know I will.
Posted By: agnes levine
Friday, August 25th 2023 at 12:01PM
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