On Friday morning, MSNBC host Katy Tur and contributor Geoff Bennett lamented that President Joe Biden is reluctant to spend even more federal money by going along with forgiving student debt -- a move many Democrats hope will boost them with young voters in this year's elections.
After Tur argued that there should be more aid to students because college is more expensive than it used to be, Bennett recounted:
And there are Democrats who say the system is unfair. We tell young people to go to college -- they have to take out loans in order to graduate -- and now they're punished for it. BENNETT: And there is this disconnect, and there are Democrats at the grassroots level -- even at the level of Congress who say that the President, on this issue, just doesn't get it.
He added: "And Sahil (Kapur) mentioned the President, based on my reporting, is dug in. He wants to keep this as close to $10,000 --."
Tur jumped in to exclaim, "Why?!" as Bennett continued:
-- as he possibly can. The President has said himself that he -- for him, it's an issue of fairness. He said on the campaign trail that if you went to Harvard, Yale or Penn, the American people should not be repaying your student loans. And so that suggests to me that perhaps in his mind he thinks the people who would benefit from this the most are at the higher end of the education spectrum. ... Most Americans don't have student loans because most Americans didn't go to college. And that has been one of the major issues -- one of the major stumbling blocks, I think, in this White House.
The two soon added:
TUR: I'm confused by the idea that we're not going to help you be a better, more educated citizen in this country by going to college and trying to give back. It doesn't make sense to me.
BENNETT: Yeah, and I think your argument is right on the merits. And it's one of the reasons why the White House is even considering ways to restructure --
The MSNBC host then invoked spending on military aid to Ukraine as she further pushed for more spending on social programs:
You know, the war in Ukraine is taking a lot of money -- $33 billion is what President Biden is asking Congress for to help the Ukrainian people. I don't think there are very many people out there who say that's a bad idea. But also think there are people questioning, "Where does that money come from? How come there are all these millions of dollars that can go to help a foreign country when we're being told at home that we can't have forgiveness for student loan debt -- that we can't have paid parental leave -- that we can't have basic social services to get people lifted up from poverty?" It's got to be a hard pill to swallow for people who are struggling.
This push for more liberal spending policies was sponsored in part by Verizon. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC Reports
April 29, 2022
11:41 a.m. EasternKATY TUR: I think there is an argument to talk about the age of people currently in Congress and in the White House. When they were going to college, it cost a lot different, I mean, there was much less money. You could work your way through college. Going to college now -- I get the idea of "Hey, you got to work your way through, pull yourself up by your bootstraps" -- but college now is insanely expensive -- 50, 60, 70,000 more -- and then you add housing on, it is just -- it is -- the debt from that is crushing, and the job market, when you get out of it, is not that good.
GEOFF BENNETT, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, and there are Democrats who say the system is unfair. We tell young people to go to college -- they have to take out loans in order to graduate -- and now they're punished for it.
TUR: Yeah.
BENNETT: And there is this disconnect, and there are Democrats at the grassroots level -- even at the level of Congress who say that the President, on this issue, just doesn't get it.
TUR: Elizabeth Warren is one of those people.
BENNETT: Yeah, yeah. And Sahil (Kapur) mentioned the President, based on my reporting, is dug in. He wants to keep this as close to $10,000 --
TUR: Why?!
BENNETT: -- as he possibly can. The President has said himself that he -- for him, it's an issue of fairness. He said on the campaign trail that if you went to Harvard, Yale or Penn, the American people should not be repaying your student loans. And so that suggests to me that perhaps in his mind he thinks the people who would benefit from this the most are at the higher end of the education spectrum. ... Most Americans don't have student loans because most Americans didn't go to college. And that has been one of the major issues -- one of the major stumbling blocks, I think, in this White House.
TUR: But it's not just the elite Ivy schools that cost that much, Geoff. I mean, most colleges cost tens of thousands of dollars a year. Community college can cost a lot more when you're talking about housing and books, etc. It's obviously not as much, but -- I'm confused by the idea that we're not going to help you be a better, more educated citizen in this country by going to college and trying to give back. It doesn't make sense to me.
BENNETT: Yeah, and I think your argument is right on the merits. And it's one of the reasons why the White House is even considering ways to restructure --
TUR: There are also a lot of people who go to those schools who can't really afford it themselves, and they reached a long way to get there.
BENNETT: Yeah, and they don't realize it until they're adults that the loans they took out in college would end up hurting them in the long run.
SAHIL KAPUR, NBC SENIOR NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: It's also demographic-based a little bit because the Republican base is older and less college-educated than the Democratic base which is increasingly younger and more college-educated. So that's why we see this disparity.
(...)
TUR: You know, the war in Ukraine is taking a lot of money -- $33 billion is what President Biden is asking Congress for to help the Ukrainian people. I don't think there are very many people out there who say that's a bad idea. But also think there are people questioning, "Where does that money come from? How come there are all these millions of dollars that can go to help a foreign country when we're being told at home that we can't have forgiveness for student loan debt -- that we can't have paid parental leave -- that we can't have basic social services to get people lifted up from poverty?" It's got to be a hard pill to swallow for people who are struggling.
