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**DECEMBER 22, 2021**
Kuttner on TAP
Biden's Welcome and Overdue Executive Leadership
An extension of the student debt moratorium
As Republicans in Congress, aided by Joe Manchin, keep blocking much of
Biden's legislative program, the president keeps belatedly discovering
reserves of unused executive power-as the
**Prospect** has been urging him to do all year.
On Monday, Biden discovered he could use the Defense Production Act to
get COVID home tests to every American
.
Today, he used emergency executive power to extend student loan
repayment forbearance
through May 1, 2022.
The current moratorium was set to end in February. As recently as two
weeks ago, press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden had no plans to
extend it.
In extending student debt relief, Biden cited COVID. But even without
the pandemic, student debt is its own plague, stunting the life chances
of tens of millions of Americans.
Until the votes are found for a permanent program of debt relief and
debt-free college going forward, extending these moratoria indefinitely
is the best available policy. These serial pauses increase the pressure
for a permanent reform of a program that has become a far more onerous
millstone than was ever intended.
At a time when Biden's approval ratings are underwater, student debt
relief is also tangible help and smart politics. It is practical help,
and easy to understand.
Voters under 30 broke for the Democrats by margins of 72-23 in 2018, and
59-35 in 2020. If Democrats stand a prayer of holding Congress in 2022,
Biden needs to give voters, especially the young, reasons to turn out.
As we keep writing, there is a lot more that Biden could do with
executive power, like putting teeth in Buy American, and vigorously
protecting the right of workers to join unions, and hanging tough on
China tariffs. The other virtue of bold executive action is that it
keeps a positive spotlight squarely on Biden in a clear leadership role,
rather than as bogged down in an endless legislative quagmire.
More, please.
****
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
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Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
**Robert Kuttner's latest book is**
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.
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Those Electrifying Speculators
Electric-vehicle companies, often raising capital through dubious
mergers, have a problem with the truth, and it's a problem for all of
us on this planet. BY DAVID DAYEN
The (Government) Customer Is Always Right
A
new executive order promises to speed the delivery of government
services by modernizing cooperation across federal departments and state
and local governments. BY JAROD FACUNDO
The Unionized Starbucks in Your Neighborhood
Thousands of baristas are already unionized, at the Starbucks kiosks in
supermarkets, airports, hotels, and other locations. BY NELSON
LICHTENSTEIN
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