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President Joe Biden has so far resisted calls for a blanket cancelation of student loan debt. But progressive Democrats have refused to relent on their top priority, ramping up the pressure this week on the administration for a sweeping order to fix broken parts of the federal student loan system.

Young adults have been drowning in student loan debtwhich has more than tripled since 2000for years after they graduate. With nearly 45 million individuals receiving a bill each month, Americans now owe about $1.7 trillion in student loans, more than the nation's total debt on auto loans and credit cards.

In April, the Biden administration instructed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to produce a memo outlining the president's legal authority to eliminate student debt. Six months later, a group of 18 progressive lawmakers, led by Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, demanded the document to be released by October 22.

"Decades ago, Congress voted to authorize the executive branch to cancel federal student loans. Federal student debt can be canceled with the 'flick of your pen,'" the members wrote in a letter to Biden, adding that "this authority is already being put to use, as it is currently being used to cancel the interest owed on all federally-held student loans.

"Now it is time for you to honor your campaign pledge and use this authority to cancel all student debt."

In a tweet Thursday, Senator Elizabeth Warren renewed pressure on the president to "cancel" student debt.

"Student loan borrowers are teachers, health care workers & other essential workers. Many of them have been carrying the burden of student debt for decades. Helping these borrowers is popular and it's the right thing to do," the Massachusetts Democrat wrote.

"Student debt relief is good for people and good for the economy. [Biden] can and must lift the burden of student debt for 43 million Americans," said Washington Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal, who is also the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, tweeted: "Today would be a great day for President Biden and Vice President Harris to #CancelStudentDebt."

Progressives have been pushing Biden to cancel at least $50,000 in debt with an executive order, which would wipe out the debt burden of 36 million individualsincluding about 10 million who have already defaultedaccording to data from the Education Department. Biden has previously said he's open to cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt.

In July, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Biden lacks authority to unilaterally eliminate federal student loan debt.

"People think that the president of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness," the California Democrat said. "He does not. He can postpone, he can delay, but he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress."

Supporters argue that forgiving student loan debt would help to alleviate racial and economic inequality. In recent years, proponents have also stressed that the cost of living has been rising at a much faster rate than college salaries.

Critics, however, say it's unfair to cancel student loan debt for wealthier borrowers who graduated from elite colleges, such as Harvard and Yale.

In 2019, 10 percent of student loan borrowers were in default, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Black graduates with a bachelor's degree are more likely to default than white dropouts. About 32 percent of Black Americans who went to college 10 years ago have since gone into default.

Biden has already canceled $9.5 billion in student debt for borrowers with disabilities and individuals who were deceived into attending now-defunct colleges. In August, the Department of Education announced a final extension of the pandemic-related pause on student loan repayment, interest, and collections until January 31, 2022.

"It's not enough," Schumer said last month. "We need to do more."

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.

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'Good for the Economy': Progressives Escalate Pressure on Biden to Cancel Student Debt - Newsweek

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) Democrats are going toe-to-toe to try and get their policies inside President Joe Bidens final Build Back Better plan.

Some Democrats say they are growing worried important climate initiatives could be scrapped in an effort to appease moderate Democrats who have voiced concerns of their own.

Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., says Congress cannot wait to address climate change.

Were going to need more than pretty words, Casten said. If you look at the west on fire, if you look at the floods, if you look at the hurricanes and say, you know what we should do, kick the can down the road. Then you dont belong in this line of work.

Casten is fighting to make sure robust climate policies remain inside the presidents Build Back Better plan.

We need binding action, Casten said.

He says the planned policies will reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2030 by 45%.

Thats not enough but that would be the most transformative, most significant climate policy ever passed by the United States, he said.

On Tuesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., vowed to keep climate policies at the forefront of the presidents plan, days after she met with Pope Francis and global leaders about the issue of climate change.

We have a moral responsibility, Pelosi said.

But Casten says he is deeply concerned moderates representing fossil fuel states, like Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., could sour that commitment.

We do have provisions in this bill to help out those parts of the country, Casten said. Weve tried to be thoughtful about it.

The White House says negotiations are still underway.

Were working with Sen. Manchin, were working with a range of Democrats, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

But Republicans who oppose the package across the board say they hope moderates do not cave.

These bills are inaccurate, theyre wrong, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., said. Now we know that wont work, largely because of Senators Manchin and Sinema.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is in favor of potential tax incentives in the bill.

As the author of the expanded and improved 45Q carbon capture tax credit, of course Im in favor of encouraging carbon capture projects, and I have a bill with Senator Smith to make the tax credit more accessible. But it seems this potential 45Q increase comes only in exchange for more Democratic support of CEPPa program that would penalize energy producers much more than 45Q would reward them. Boosting the 45Q tax credit would not even come close to negating the devastating impact CEPP would have on coal and natural gas plants.

Democrats have until the end of the month to get moderates and progressives united behind one plan.

The White House announced Thursday that Biden will also be traveling to Europe at the end of the month to meet with the Pope and to attend the UN annual climate conference.

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Progressives press for climate reforms to stay in spending package - KXAN.com

Progressive groups will rally Thursday on the Ellipse to press President Biden and Congress to keep paid family medical leave in the social spending package that ultimately gets a vote, Axios has learned.

The big picture: Look for these and other advocates to step up their public engagement to keep their cherished programs from being axed, as congressional negotiators trim the size of Democrats' budget reconciliation package to roughly $2 trillion, from a $3.5 trillion starting point.

Between the lines: Some of the biggest supporters of a paid leave proposal costing as much as $500 billion have been reading tea leaves since President Biden did not mention it in his Michigan speech last week.

Driving the news: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday appeared to be bracing her caucus for major proposals to be scrapped from the package when she told colleagues in a memo that Congress should do fewer things well.

Be smart: Through the Care Cant Wait Coalition, groups are seeking to remain united rather than turn against one another's programs to save their own.

Details: Democrats have three main caregiving proposals: paid family medical leave, a new program to help cover costs for caring for an older family member and subsidies for day care and universal preschool.

What we're watching: Paid leave advocates are making it clear that they supported the American Families Plan, which dedicated $225 billion for the program, much lower than the $500 billion in the House version. They're willing to trim the number of weeks from 12 to four that someone can take off to care for a family member.

The bottom line: At a certain point, the groups now presenting a unified front may be asked to endorse a final bill that doesnt include their specific program.

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First look: Progressives plan rally to keep paid family leave in plan - Axios

Opinion: Infrastructure bills should provide a foundation for a fairer more equitable society, not hurl us against the rocks as conservatives would have you believe.

Alan Austin| opinion contributor

In his commentary on Sen.Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona Republic Editorial Page Editor Phil Boas soundsgenuinely confusedby what he terms her radicalism.

Her opposition to spending, however, does fit in with his own political philosophy and background with its echoes ofthe Calvinist heresy where the world is divided into the powers of good and evil who fight it out.

Boas writes that mans worst instincts are the result of animal impulses only to be redeemedpresumably by the sanity of the elect and righteous. According to Boas, Democrats, with their repeated condemnation of Sinemas actions, give forth apocalyptic rants and err on the side of profligacy, spendingour money wantonly on some chimericbrave new world.

Republicans are the calm conservatives, cautious preservers of the status quo. Democrats, on the other hand, are the devils of excess, a monolithic party of radicalsforcing infrastructure reforms down the throat of a weary populace.

Such fears of social and economic chaos from political division also haunted the Founding Fathers. They eyed the chaos of the French Revolutionwith fear though they espoused it values and were careful to put the Electoral College in place to prevent the mob from taking over.

Privilege and power were to rest in the steadyhands of the propertied and educated classes. There were to be no peasant revolts in America, no manning of the barricades, no Madam La Guillotine. Too much ill-informed democracy in the hands of the illiterate masses could, in their view, onlylead to moral and social chaos.

Though Boas doesnt say this in his piece, its implied.

In Arizona, if you actually count the votes, Republicans are the minority party but control the Legislature and have done for many years.

As in the rest of the country, it has used gerrymandering and voter suppression and the pressto restrict and discourage minorities and the poor and disadvantaged from voting. Postal voting, which they thought would increase the Republican vote, is now suddenly a threat because its convenient and popular and helped Biden win.

Looking for the other side of the story? Subscribe today for access to even more opinions.

The recent sham audit was Republicans pressing their panic button. Now conservative editorial writershave the challenge convincing voters that the out of control mob is going to take over and spend everyones money, convenientlyforgetting Trumps tax cut or the fact that the national debt rose by almost $7.8 trillion during his time in office.

The Radical Democrats are heading the ship toward the rocks or the iceberg or whichever metaphoryou prefer. Boas enjoins us to sit down and debate whether the reformswill make life better.Surely, he writes, we all need time to recover from Trump and the pandemic?

We sat down anddebatedall these issues prior to the 2020 elections and the country voted for Biden. Now, Republicans Plan B, with a little help from Democratic senators in partisan states, goes into motion and to their joy twowilling Democrats are doing the job for them.

The Senate, a democratically lopsided institution, where Democrats represent 41,549,808 more people than the Republicans, is split 50/50 so two senators can make themselves the focus and can control what happens.

Boas never suggests that we dont need the reforms proposed in the two bills in question. The bills have popular support across a widepoliticalspectrum. They will not bankrupt us but should provide a foundation for a fairer more equitable society where people matter as much as profits.

The young Miranda who utters the words Oh Brave NewWorld is commenting on her first sight of other human beings as they recover from a shipwreck, an appropriate parallel. Miranda represents youth, and hope against the political and natural forces ofdestruction and division.

We need her youth,joy and idealism as we pass the torch to a younger generation, in a world wrought by division, hostility and a deteriorating environment. A Brave New World is all we can hope for.

Alan Austin was a longtime English teacher in Arizona. He lives in Phoenix. Reach him ataustinas@cox.net.

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Progressives see a 'brave new world.' Republicans see chaos and catastrophe - The Arizona Republic

How ironic that Bill Nemitz calls progressives the language police (Warning to those on Portlands payroll: Keep your criticisms to yourself, Oct. 8) when, in fact, progressives were responding to Robyn Baileys own policing of the language of others.

In her email to the City Council that was brought to the school boards attention, Bailey calls for two charter commission members to be held accountable for their social media posts (saying they would be done, gone, and trashed if they were not people of color). If that is not policing language, I dont know what is.

Nemitz also gets wrong why progressives object to Baileys letter. It is not that she had the gall to question the local progressive movement. Raising questions in good faith is welcome. The problem is that Bailey, a school administrator, minimized the problem of racial bias in Portland and attacked two women of color, claiming they were given a pass because of their race. One had referred to a city official as a white supremacist. Frankly, combating white supremacy is vastly more important than criticizing someone for using the term. The other woman had tweeted lightheartedly a couple of times about bodies and sex. So what.

Finally, it seems relevant that Bailey wrote this letter after her husband lost the election to the charter commission, and these two women had won. Nemitz might have delved into her motives for looking through their past social media posts.

Abigail FullerPortland

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Letter to the Editor: Progressives were not the 'language police' - Press Herald