PLUS: PPI's Team of Experts Weigh In on what's next for reconciliation, inflation, and other hot-button issues! 

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Progress Report
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News, events, and must-read analysis from the Progressive Policy Institute.
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Broad Student Debt Cancellation Would Backfire
By Ben Ritz, PPI's Director of the Center for Funding America's Future
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Last week, President Biden reportedly ([link removed]) told a group of lawmakers who urged him to cancel at least $10,000 of student debt for every borrower through executive action, “you're going to like what I do on that.” Although there are some worthwhile forms of debt forgiveness, these reports are cause for concern. Broad debt cancellation would be an expensive, regressive giveaway to affluent households that worsens inflation and detracts from more meaningful efforts to address the college affordability crisis.

Student loan debt is disproportionately held by affluent households ([link removed]) because the degree they borrowed money to pursue enhances their earning power. Considering the enormous costs of a college education today, it makes sense to offer relief to borrowers with low lifetime incomes – people who are stuck with the debt of degrees without being able to reap the financial benefits. That’s why I urged President Biden last year ([link removed]) to expand and reform income-driven repayment programs that directly tie debt cancellation to a borrower’s ability to pay.

But broader student debt cancellation is a regressive transfer of wealth from lower- and middle-income workers to high-income professionals. President Biden has already cancelled more student loan debt than any president in history, largely because of his decision to repeatedly extend a moratorium on minimum payments and interest accrual. The greatest beneficiaries of this policy have been ([link removed]) high-income professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, who have on average had at least $30,000 of debt effectively cancelled by the policy so far.

The administration is reportedly hoping to counter criticisms of regressivity by only cancelling debt for individuals who earned less than $150,000 last year ([link removed]) . Although this would help limit giveaways to some of the wealthiest people, it’s still deeply flawed. Many people with high lifetime incomes still have individual years in which they earned less, such as a recent graduate who has not yet reached the point in their career where they will fully realize the value of their degree. Whether it's through higher taxes or inflation, workers who didn't go to college will bear the costs of cancelling up to $400 billion in outstanding student debt.


Broad Student Debt Cancellation Would Backfire ([link removed])
By Ben Ritz
for Forbes ([link removed])
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[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fbenritz%2F2022%2F05%2F02%2Fbroad-student-debt-cancellation-would-backfire%2F%3Fsh%3D5d1dcbbd1b8f Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fbenritz%2F2022%2F05%2F02%2Fbroad-student-debt-cancellation-would-backfire%2F%3Fsh%3D5d1dcbbd1b8f)
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DON'T MISS:
Gov. Jared Polis Weighs In On "Misguided" Biden Department of Education Rules
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The Education Department's 'fix' for charter

schools is misguided

By Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado


As governor of Colorado, I’ve seen the enormous challenges faced by our students as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, the federal government has generally been a helpful partner to get and keep schools safely open by providing flexible funding with few administrative burdens.

So it’s confounding that the Education Department is about to create chaos and limit public school choice by instituting new rules that would gut the federal Charter Schools Program ([link removed]) (CSP) — a program that I helped update and greatly expand, with bipartisan support, during my time in Congress. The CSP supports the development and expansion of high-quality public charter schools and provides technical assistance and training where there is demand.

In Colorado, that demand is higher than ever. Public charter schools — tuition-free public schools that are granted site-based governance and flexibility in exchange for high accountability — are an important part of Colorado’s public school landscape. Today, about 15 percent of Colorado’s public school students attend a charter school.

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[link removed]'s%20'fix'%20for%20charter%20schools%20is%20misguided%20: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fopinions%2F2022%2F04%2F29%2Fcolorado-governor-oppose-gutting-charter-school-funding%2F Tweet ([link removed]'s%20'fix'%20for%20charter%20schools%20is%20misguided%20: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fopinions%2F2022%2F04%2F29%2Fcolorado-governor-oppose-gutting-charter-school-funding%2F)
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ICYMI: PPI's RAS Hosts Webinar on Parent Choice in America and How a New Department of Education Rule Could Hurt Students
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In partnership with The 74 Million, PPI's Reinventing America's Schools project hosted an engaging discussion about the current state of parent choice in America and its ability to close achievement gaps exacerbated during the COVID pandemic.

If the Department of Education has its way, big changes could be in store for the nation’s charter schools.

Charter advocates say the proposed rules would make it harder to get new charters off the ground ([link removed]) . What this means for school choice was front and center as The 74 and the Progressive Policy Institute presented an April 28 panel discussion: “Tell Them We Are Rising: Parental Choice in America.”

The panel featured insights from Atasha James, CEO of Legends Public Charter School; Ebony Lee, of Charter School Growth Fund; Dr. Howard Fuller, Professor Emeritus at Marquette University; and Earl Martin Phalen, CEO of Phalen Leadership Academies. Curtis Valentine, co-director of PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools Project, moderated the conversation.
WATCH THE WEBINAR ([link removed])


** The Latest from PPI's Policy Experts
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Will Marshall, President of PPI talks to Tim Boyum on Capital Tonight about the importance of swing voters
⮕ W ([link removed]) atch TV Clip on Spectrum News 1 ([link removed])
⮕ Read PPI Report: The New Politics of Evasion ([link removed])

Ben Ritz, PPI's Director of the Center for Funding America's Future: Fears mount inside White House that Manchin won't agree to any deal
⮕ The Washington Post ([link removed])
⮕ Financial Times ([link removed])

Malena Dailey, PPI's Technology Policy Analyst: Elon Musk's Free Speech Arguments Fall Flat
⮕ PPI's Medium ([link removed])

Ed Gresser, PPI's Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets: Estimates of "Section 301" Contribution to U.S. Inflation Rate; Range of Estimates: 0.3% to 1.3%?
⮕ PPI's Trade Fact of the Week ([link removed])

Ed Gresser, PPI's Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets: Tariff Relief: A Tonic for the U.S. Economy
⮕ U.S. Chamber of Commerce ([link removed])

Jeremiah Johnson, Policy Director of the Center for New Liberalism: Ep. 69 Our 'Very Nice Kidney Donating Ne0liberal' Friend
⮕ Nobody Expects The Dismal Science (Podcast) ([link removed])

Lisa Ly, PPI Social Policy Intern: We Need Staffing Ratios to Address the Current Nursing Shortage
⮕ PPI ([link removed])

Paul Weinstein Jr., PPI Senior Fellow: Small banks doubt the Fed can avert a recession
⮕ American Banker ([link removed])
Listen Up
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RADICALLY PRAGMATIC:

Making Insulin More Affordable
w/ Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05)

On this week's episode of Radically Pragmatic, Congressman Dan Kildee
(MI-05) sits down with PPI's Director of Health Care Arielle Kane to discuss his bill, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which passed the House last month and would lower the cost of insulin prescriptions for Americans with diabetes.

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THE NEOLIBERAL PODCAST:

Why We Fight
ft. Chris Blattman

Why do nations fight when it's clear how incredibly destructive war is? Economist and political scientist Chris Blattman joins the show to discuss his new book, Why We Fight. He discusses how the world is probably more peaceful than it gets credit for, the factors that cause peace to sometimes breaks down, and how we can build a world with less violence and less conflict.

Don't Miss These PPI Reports
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