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The student debt crisis is back in the news. That’s not too surprising, given that 44 million debtors now hold a staggering $1.5 trillion in student loans. What’s more surprising is the immediate source of the media attention: centrist New York senator Chuck Schumer, who (along with Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren) is calling on Joe Biden to cancel $50,000 worth of student debt per borrower by executive order.

The Higher Education Act, which empowers the federal government to issue student debt, also permits the Department of Education to cancel debt through the “compromise and settlement” provision. That means that by executive order, without new legislation, the president can make student debt vanish.

It should go without saying that Joe Biden should issue such an order and cancel all student debt. Doing so would inject a massive tranche of money into a beleaguered economy while removing the anvil of debt around millions of workers’ necks. The benefits to ordinary people would be immense and the cost to the government extremely low.

The student debt problem gets worse with every passing year. As I reported last year, student debt has tripled since 2006. That has at least something to do with the fact that tuition has gone up 30 percent since 2006, while rent has jumped 47 percent and real wages have grown only 7 percent in that time.

Student debt is also one major factor driving racial wealth inequality. Not only does student debt hit black and Hispanic people harder than whites, but black students are 130 percent more likely than white counterparts to accumulate six figures of student debt in the first place.

Meanwhile, the government only collects a small portion of the $1.5 trillion in total outstanding debt each year. With an annual revenue of more than $3.3 trillion, the income the government receives from student debt is inconsequential.

In the midst of one of the worst economic depressions in US history, canceling student debt and putting money directly into people’s pockets is more crucial than ever. So why isn’t the issue a slam dunk?

Who’s Got the Power?

It’s easy for people like Chuck Schumer to urge Biden to eliminate student debt. Since the matter is totally out of his power, Schumer can polish his faded progressive credentials by proposing it without upsetting his big donors by actually doing it. So far, the gambit is working. Biden shows no sign of listening to Schumer’s suggestion.

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