Tick-tock, tick-tock. In about two months, over 30 million Americans will have a bill coming due.

The pause on student loan debt payments is running out. For many borrowers, these payments are the size of their rent, their car payments, groceries, or child care. That's going to mean a lot of people making a lot of hard choices.

Do they pay the student loan debt, or do they keep up with their car payments? Do they pay the student loan debt, or do they keep up with their child care?

We have the power to protect borrowers from these hard choices. That’s why, alongside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, I’m urging President Biden to extend the payment pause and cancel student loan debt.

But I need you to be a part of this effort — because we can only get it done if we fight for it side by side as a grassroots movement. Sign our petition and join me today.

Look: When Americans can't fully participate in our economy because they’re strapped with a huge debt burden, we see a ripple effect across our entire economy and a slowdown in economic growth. This affects all of us, including those of us who don't have student loans or have already paid off their student debt.

The pause on payments started last year, at the beginning of this pandemic and economic crisis, because it was clear that the cost of student debt would be yet another huge drag on our economy.

But we’re not out of the woods yet, so Senator Schumer, Congresswoman Pressley, and I are calling for an extension for at least six months.

A recent Pew study determined that about two-thirds of borrowers are not ready for payments to resume, and that they will find it difficult to manage their debts. Their student loan burdens are like a sword hanging over their heads: Every day that goes by, that sword draws a little closer.

And the choice about what to pay will fall hardest on the most vulnerable among us: 40% of those with student loan debt do not have a diploma, including the majority of Black borrowers. That means they are paying for college on a high school graduate’s wages.

Solving the student loan debt crisis is a matter of economic justice and it is a matter of racial justice. The President of the United States can remove the sword and prevent this pain by extending the pause AND by cancelling $50,000 in student loan debt — wiping out all debt for about 36 million Americans, or 85% of all borrowers.

Add your name to join me, Senator Schumer, and Congresswoman Pressley in urging President Biden to pick up a pen and extend the payment pause, cancel student loan debt, and improve the lives of tens of millions of Americans while growing our whole economy.

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth