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Is student-loan forgiveness unforgivable in Congress?
國會是否同意減免學(xué)生貸款？
Even before taking office, president-elect Joe Biden is already facing a political storm among his ideologically diverse base of supporters over the volatile issue of student-debt forgiveness.
學(xué)生貸款減免問題備具爭議，當(dāng)選總統(tǒng)拜登就職之前就已在其形態(tài)各異的支持者中挑起一場政治風(fēng)暴。
Roughly 45 million Americans currently hold $1.6 trillion in student debt, with the average student-loan recipient owing between $20,000 and $25,000, according to the Federal Reserve. Among those actively making payments on their debt, the average monthly installment is between $200 and $300. And with 5.3 million more people unemployed than in February, right before the U.S. fell into a pandemic-induced recession, progressives say that student-debt forgiveness could be a boon for the economy.
美國聯(lián)邦儲備委員會的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，目前約有4,500萬美國人持有1.6萬億美元的學(xué)生債務(wù)，學(xué)生貸款接受者的平均債務(wù)在2萬美元至2.5萬美元之間。那些積極還債的人平均每月的分期付款金額在200美元至300美元之間。美國失業(yè)人數(shù)與2月份相比增加了530萬人，而2月份正好在美國陷入因新冠導(dǎo)致的衰退之前。進(jìn)步人士表示，對經(jīng)濟(jì)來說，減免學(xué)生債務(wù)或許是件好事。
"Student-debt cancellation feels like one of the most accessible Executive actions to stimulate the economy at the moment," says Suzanne Kahn, director of the Education, Jobs and Worker Power program and the Great Democracy Initiative at the liberal Roosevelt Institute.
蘇珊娜·卡恩是自由主義羅斯福協(xié)會教育、就業(yè)和工人動力項(xiàng)目和大民主倡議項(xiàng)目的主任，她說：“感覺取消學(xué)生債務(wù)是目前刺激經(jīng)濟(jì)最可行的行政措施之一。”
Kahn and others say the move would also help close the wealth gap between white Americans and people of color. Some 90% of Black students and 72% of Latino students take out loans for college vs. just 66% of white students, according to a 2016 analysis from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
卡恩等人說，這一舉措還將有助于縮小美國白人和有色人種之間的財富差距。美國消費(fèi)者金融保護(hù)局2016年的一項(xiàng)分析顯示：約有90%的黑人學(xué)生和72%的拉丁裔學(xué)生申請了大學(xué)貸款，而申請大學(xué)貸款的白人學(xué)生只有66%。
But the more moderate faction of Biden's base argues that sweeping student-loan forgiveness doesn't help the people who need aid most. Americans with college degrees, as a whole, have been less devastated by the economic effects of COVID-19 than their noncollege-educated counterparts. A September report from Pew Research Center found that only 12% of people with college degrees were having trouble paying bills as a result of the pandemic, compared with 34% of Americans with a high school diploma or less.
但拜登陣營里較為溫和的一派認(rèn)為，全面減免學(xué)生貸款并不能幫到最需要幫助的人。總體上來說，擁有大學(xué)學(xué)位的美國人受到新冠帶來的經(jīng)濟(jì)影響的沖擊要小于未受過大學(xué)教育的美國人。皮尤研究中心9月份的一份報告發(fā)現(xiàn)，在新冠的影響下，只有12%的擁有大學(xué)學(xué)位的人難以支付賬單，而這一比例在擁有高中或更低學(xué)歷的美國人之間為34%。
Others raise concerns about precedent: if the government wipes out current student loans, future college students may have an incentive to take on debts, they argue, hoping they will also be forgiven. Colleges may in turn be inclined to raise their prices further.
其他人則擔(dān)憂先例被開創(chuàng)的問題：他們認(rèn)為，如果政府減免了當(dāng)前學(xué)生的貸款，那么之后的大學(xué)生有可能會去特意貸款，然后也希望自己的債務(wù)能夠被免除。反過來，大學(xué)可能會傾向于進(jìn)一步提高學(xué)費(fèi)。
In recent weeks, Biden has walked a fine line on the issue, offering support for a bill from House Democrats calling for $10,000 worth of student-loan forgiveness but stopping short of endorsing anything close to a plan championed by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer to issue $50,000 per borrower through Executive action.
最近幾周，拜登在這個問題上走了一條很好的路線，他支持眾議院民主黨議員提出的減免1萬美元學(xué)生貸款的議案，但并未支持參議員伊麗莎白·沃倫和查克·舒默倡導(dǎo)的通過行政行為為每個借款人發(fā)放5萬美元貸款等類似計劃。
What's clear, according to experts on both sides of the aisle, is that economic crises exacerbate the problem of student debt. The last time the U.S. dipped into a recession, state governments cut their investments in colleges and universities—which, in turn, raised their tuition prices and forced students to take on ever larger loans.
在兩黨專家看來有一點(diǎn)是明確的：經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)使得學(xué)生債務(wù)問題更加嚴(yán)峻。上一次美國陷入經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退時，州政府削減了對高校的投資，這反過來提高了高校的學(xué)費(fèi)，迫使學(xué)生們背負(fù)了越來越多的貸款。
That's not sustainable in the long run. It remains to be seen if Biden can arrive at a political solution that is.
這不是長久之計，拜登能否給出一條政治解決方案還有待觀察。
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