Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is pushing forward with his proposal to provide a $10,000 payoff to all federal student loan borrowers.
“The next round of stimulus, we want to do that,” Brown told Cheddar from his home in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday.
Brown said that he and other Democratic senators have already been partially successful with bringing relief to those burdened by student loan debt.
“Senator Warren and I wanted two major things. We wanted a freeze on payments so nobody had to pay during this six-month or so period,” Brown explained. “We also wanted $10,000 in forgiveness of federal loans. The Republicans wouldn’t accept that. Trump opposed that.”
Brown also lobbied for $4,500 in direct payments for every American adult and child, with restrictions on higher-income families. The $2.2 trillion stimulus package included a one-time payment of $1,200 to most adults and $500 for every child.
When asked about Republicans accusing Democrats of trying to use the coronavirus crisis to push long-sought progressive legislation, Brown shrugged off the criticism saying the government is obligated to take action.
“This is the role of government to help people that are unemployed, to help people that are sick, to help people that are struggling, to help people that are hungry,” he said. “I don’t apologize for a second for any of that.”
State lawmakers are telling New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo that their ongoing impeachment investigation is “nearing completion” and gave him a deadline of Aug. 13 to provide additional evidence.
The Mexican government is suing U.S. gun manufacturers and distributors, arguing that their commercial practices have unleashed tremendous bloodshed in Mexico.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week by 14,000 to 385,000 more evidence that the economy and the job market are rebounding briskly from the coronavirus recession.
The White House will be requiring incoming travelers to the U.S. to be vaccinated., Gov. Cuomo is potentially looking at criminal charges, and Jeopardy! might be heading in a surprise direction for a new host.
The Biden administration wants automakers to raise gas mileage and cut tailpipe pollution between now and model year 2026. It also has won a voluntary commitment from the industry that electric vehicles would make up roughly half of U.S. sales by 2030.
A Belarusian Olympic sprinter who criticized her coaches at the Tokyo Games said Thursday that she showed police at the airport a translated plea for help on her phone as she tried to avoid being put on a plane back home.
The State Department says it's looking into the apparent disappearance of a nearly $6,000 bottle of whisky given more than two years ago to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by the government of Japan.
A majority of state Assembly members support beginning impeachment proceedings against Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he doesn’t resign over investigative findings that he sexually harassed at least 11 women.
Lobbyists for the crypto industry are calling for last-minute revisions to an infrastructure bill provision that could fundamentally change how the federal government treats holders of digital assets.
