美国国家公共电台 NPR--Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been pushing for student loan relief for years

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been pushing for student loan relief for years

Transcript¹

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts about the Biden administration's plan to forgive some college debt owed by millions of American students.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Now let's hear from some students who could be affected² directly by the Biden plan.

ASHANTI JEAN-CLAUDE: Ten thousand dollars - to not have to pay that and put it towards my family back at home - that would be awesome³. My parents have worked real hard to put me through college. I have 10 siblings⁴. So it would mean a lot.

MYKALA ELDER: So I certainly think that it's something great. It'll help me personally and help my little sister. At this point, I just feel like, you know, it's good to kind of take what we can get. Unfortunately, I am planning on going to law school, which will put me even more into debt.

LUKE WINNOCKE: Still, I'm not sure that the 10K really quite lives up to the expectations of some of those progressives, but it's still a step in the right direction, I think.

MARTINEZ: Those were the voices of Ashanti Jean-Claude (ph), Mykala Elder and Luke Winnocke (ph) from the campuses of Howard University and George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren is a longtime advocate for student loan debt forgiveness, and she joins us now. Senator, thanks for being on.

ELIZABETH WARREN: Oh, good morning.

MARTIN: You had been pushing legislation that would have eliminated $50,000 in student debt for more than 40 million Americans, including private borrowers. So the Biden plan is less than that. Are you satisfied with what the administration has come up with?

WARREN: I'm celebrating. Look; in the last 24 hours, 20 million Americans learned that they never have to pay another nickel of student loan debt, and 23 million more Americans learned that the amount they owed on their student loans when COVID hit is now substantially reduced. In addition to that, all the parents of high schoolers and people who will be going to school in the future learned that the income-determined repayment⁵ plan has changed so that anyone who wants to go to school and isn't in a family that can write a check for that will not have to go through debt hell. And that just means life got better for a whole lot of folks in America's middle class. So yay. Would I like more? You bet I would. Will I keep fighting for it? Of course. But this is huge.

MARTIN: So forgiveness applies to borrowers who earn less than $125,000 a year or households that make less than $250,000. I suppose you have to draw the line somewhere, but do you think this is a fair standard?

WARREN: Yes, I think that - I get it. The president was absolutely locked in that he wanted an income cap in order to concentrate resources for those who need it most. But the part to remember here is that more than half of all the recipients⁶ will get $20,000 in student loans cancellation⁷.

MARTIN: These are students who received Pell Grants.

WARREN: And that's more than half of all the people who have student loans. And what that does is that concentrates the relief among African Americans, among Latinos, among veterans, among mamas and daddies who decided⁸ to go back to school and among first-generation college students. Remember that Pell Grants are given - 95% of the families have incomes less than $60,000. So there's a big push in this to get help to the people who need it most.

MARTIN: Former Treasury⁹ secretary under President Obama, Larry Summers, criticized the administration's forgiveness plans, saying it's going to make inflation worse. Do you agree?

WARREN: No. And in fact, the data just don't back that up. Even the most conservative outlets¹⁰ that have looked at this have said maybe it'll have a tiny little effect on inflation. But here's the thing - they forget the other half. The president has paired cancellation of student loan debt with the resumption of payments for the 23 million Americans who will still owe student loan debt. So that is - that means that for 23 million Americans, there's going to be a new payment starting, which has a deflationary effect, not an inflationary effect.

MARTIN: May I ask what you think of Larry Summers' alternative? He thinks that these loans should be discharged by filing for bankruptcy¹¹. You happen to have a lot of experience in bankruptcy law.

WARREN: You know, first of all, you'd have to change the bankruptcy laws. One of the reasons that we have created this horrible situation with debt is that the bankruptcy laws were changed years ago to make it virtually impossible to discharge debts in bankruptcy. But the second is to say that is - you have to think of it as, that's a hand-tailored response. People go into bankruptcy, and it is a very complex and pretty expensive process. It's not designed to handle 43 million Americans.

The president is making this change both to help middle-class families, working-class families and, frankly¹², to help our whole economy. Understand that the people who have student loan debt - remember, 40% of them don't even have a college diploma. But these are people who are struggling with debt, and we know as a group they are less likely right now to move out of mom's basement, to be able to save up money to buy a home, to be able to start their own small business or even to start a family. And that has an impact on our whole economy.

MARTIN: So does the overall cost of college. And we have to address this.

WARREN: Yes. You bet.

MARTIN: The administration's plan for loan forgiveness does not do anything about the skyrocketing cost of college tuition. I mean, it's gone up on average 9%. I mean, that's an annual average increase. What is the administration planning to do? What are you pushing them to do?

WARREN: You preach to the choir¹³ on this. I have been arguing also for years that we need to get the cost of college under control. Let me mention a couple of things really quickly. I have gotten legislation that's partway through Congress - not all the way there yet - that would cause - we'd have more transparency. So schools would be required to disclose not just the so-called sticker price in their scholarships but, in fact, how many people graduate, how long it takes them to graduate, which affects the price, and how much they make when they get out on the other side.

We also, though, need more public support for our public colleges and universities to bring down the tuition cost, and we need to force colleges to have skin in the game to keep their costs down. So there's a lot of work still to be done. That's on Congress, and I'm leading that fight.

MARTIN: Senator Elizabeth Warren, thank you for your time this morning. We appreciate it.

WARREN: Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

4 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

5 repayment   

n.偿还，偿还款；报酬

参考例句：

• I am entitled to a repayment for the damaged goods.我有权利索取货物损坏赔偿金。
• The tax authorities have been harrying her for repayment.税务局一直在催她补交税款。

6 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

10 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

12 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

13 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。