Rep. Ilhan Omar insists that any rescue package must cancel student debt

The Squad is starting to weigh in on the House Democrats’ economic stimulus bill, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressing concern that not a single member of Congress has seen the Senate’s actual bill text.

The developments of this Senate relief bill are concerning.

We are hearing lots of vague statements, but not a single member of Congress has seen actual bill text.

It seems to give a *HALF TRILLION DOLLARS* away to big corporations, w/ few worker protections.

Half a trillion.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 24, 2020

“With few worker protections” is like Joe Biden saying that the $500 billion “slush fund” for corporations came “with almost no conditions” — a flat-out lie.

Rep. Ilhan Omar decided to expand on Ocasio-Cortez’ tweet by adding her own conditions to the bill:

Any rescue package must:

1) Cancel student debt
2) Fund losses for small businesses and local governments
3) Ban evictions and foreclosures
4) Ban stock buybacks and executive bonuses

We need a groundswell of support for these critical measures!

Call your Rep: (202) 224-3121 https://t.co/3OCo9LbSsk

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 24, 2020

But Speaker Pelosi insisted to us that everything in the bill was related to COVID-19 and not the Democratic agenda.

What does student loan debt have to do with the Chinese Virus?

Stop using this crisis as a bargaining chip and do your job!

— James Tulp (@jamestulp) March 24, 2020

I think you mean “defer student debt”. 🙂

— Jimmie (@ithika0399) March 24, 2020

Or there could be deferrals until this is over and people that took out the loans can get back to paying them

— Thatguyfromwy2 (@thatguyfromwy2) March 24, 2020

WTF does student debt have to do with this???

Pause interests or even payments if you like… I understand that…

But why on EARTH would we cancel any kind of completely unrelated debt incurred prior to this crisis???

Can we cancel my credit card bill?

— The Quarantined Ben Orr (@theREALbenORR) March 24, 2020

This rescue package is in no way shape or form an excuse for you to push your political goals

— commonsense (@commonsense258) March 24, 2020

Never let a good crisis go to waste.

— Thought Police ?‍♂️ (@DptThoughtcrime) March 24, 2020

Tell you what: cancel my mortgage, granting me full ownership of my house and land. Only once that's been done for mortgage holders can you then write off the cost of all those basket-weaving and feminist/grievance degrees from unethical diploma mills.

— DeafDumbBlindBoy (@colinvsgravity) March 24, 2020

Disagree. Student debt is voluntary

— Zach del Nero (@kgbzach) March 24, 2020

Student debt is a separate massive issue, we need more direct stimulus right now. Don't weigh down the bill with that.

— Kevin ? ???? (@kevin2woke) March 24, 2020

Since canceling student loans is a huge road block can we worry about that later so people don't have to stress about feeding there families?

— drewbietwoshoes (@drewsifsoup) March 24, 2020

This is the problem. Politicians pushing their personal agendas into a bill that is an emergency response to #coronavirus. Pushing this stuff into the bill on more than an emergency TEMPORARY basis will stall this needed process. We WILL shine a light on it.

— A Grumpy Old Man (@GrumpyOldMan_GA) March 24, 2020

How about try to actually pass something. This isn't your Amazon wish list. People are suffering.

— Mark Alhadeff (@Mark_Alhadeff) March 24, 2020

How does transferring one persons personal student debt to all taxpayers help save lives?

— Dusty Parsons (@dusty1549) March 24, 2020

What does student loan debt cancellation have to do with the crisis.

— The Bronx is #YANGGANG ? ???? (@eacisneros) March 24, 2020

Please just stop with the student debt bit, it’s getting old!

— Gabriela (@gmcinny) March 24, 2020

Save it for later at least. Let President Biden lead the effort on that one.

Related:

Rep. Ilhan Omar says continued sanctions on Iran during COVID-19 crisis is ‘supervillain-level cruelty’ https://t.co/YNOqSkBwRw

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 21, 2020