Friend,

On Tuesday, Feb. 28, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., I’ll be joining our allies in the fight for student debt cancellation at a rally at the Supreme Court.

Will you join me? Click here to RSVP, and see below for more details.

The Supreme Court will be deciding whether President Joe Biden has the authority to help more than 26 million Americans get out from under crushing student debt—a decision that will have vast consequences for working families struggling financially due to the pandemic.

The AFT represents more than 1.7 million members—teachers and paraprofessionals, healthcare workers, higher education staff and faculty, and government workers. And while the exact details of their situations may differ, every day we hear heartbreaking stories from members with student debt who are struggling more than ever to stay afloat following the effects of a yearslong pandemic.

When tens of thousands of teachers and nurses were denied Public Service Loan Forgiveness by then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, we took action to fix PSLF: We sued DeVos. We partnered with Summer, an online student loan management platform, to help members navigate their applications for loan forgiveness. And we worked with the new administration to make the PSLF promise real. Biden came through, and we have helped more than 360,000 nurses, firefighters and teachers save $24 billion so far.

But we can’t stop there. We must fight for all workers. The COVID‑19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on American workers, many of whom were already struggling to make ends meet. The precariousness of those workers’ financial situation, along with the risk of delinquency on their debt, has severely worsened during the pandemic.

That’s why the AFT submitted an amicus brief explaining that the law is clear that cancellation falls squarely within the statutory authority Congress granted in the HEROES Act, which allows the secretary of education to ensure borrowers are not “placed in a worse position financially” as to their student loans because of a national emergency. The Biden administration’s cancellation plan will do just that: It will help ensure that millions of people are not left in a “worse position” as to their loan payments due to the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.

This is our chance to stand up for the millions of Americans struggling with student debt. I hope to see you at the rally on Tuesday.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President