Sunday Political Talk Show interviews during 2020-2024: on Education
Bernie Sanders:
Loan forgiveness helps working families & low-income people
SEN. ROY BLUNT (R-MO): I just thought it was monumentally unfair to people who didn't go to college because they didn't think they could afford it, unfair to people who paid their loans back, unfair to people who got higher education in an area that
the government didn't make loans, and just bad economics. I think it's going to have a long-term devastating effect on a student loan program that worked pretty effectively until the federal government assumed responsibility for that program.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Well, he's wrong. 60% of the benefits go to people who were on Pell grants, 87% of the benefits go to people who are making $75,000 a year.
I know it is shocking to some Republicans that the government actually, on occasion, does something to benefit working families and low-income people. I don't hear any of these Republicans squawking when we give massive tax breaks to billionaires.
Source: ABC This Week on 2024 Presidential Hopefuls
Aug 28, 2022
Vivek Ramaswamy:
An advocate of school choice and government vouchers
Ramaswamy--who said, if elected, he would abolish the federal Department of Education and push against the unionization of public school teachers--held up institutions like the American Leadership Academy as vital to forcing public schools
to compete and therefore improve. Answering one of the student questions, he made clear he is an advocate of school choice and government vouchers to attend non-public schools.
Source: Lexington County Chronicle on 2024 Presidential hopefuls
Apr 28, 2023
Josh Shapiro:
$100 million in public money to private & religious schools
Palestine is not Shapiro's only progressive heresy. Just before October 7, he drew fire from teachers' unions and public education advocates for supporting a Republican-backed plan to funnel $100 million in public money to private and religious schools.
Although he was ultimately forced to back down under pressure, many are deeply and understandably skeptical of his commitment to public education
Source: The New Republic on 2024 Vice Presidential hopefuls
Jul 24, 2024
Josh Shapiro:
Protect student borrowers from predatory lenders
Pennsylvanians are drowning in student debt. Some stats to prove it: Across the entire country, the debt load for college graduates totals $1.5 trillion. In Pennsylvania, 1.7 million borrowers have $58.7 billion in debt just from federal loans. That
equates to roughly $34,000 of debt per borrower statewide.Attorney General Shapiro has emerged as a local defender against burdensome student debt. Shapiro has long focused on student debt, promising as a candidate to "protect student borrowers from
predatory lenders and collection agencies." According to his own calculations, he's earned almost $50 million of debt relief for Pennsylvania students to date.
Among Shapiro's successes: joining a lawsuit against the private lender Student CU Connect
CUSO, which had partnered with the now-bankrupt for-profit college ITT Tech to issue what Shapiro and other attorneys general alleged were predatory loans. That settlement totaled $168 million--$5.3 million earmarked for students from Pennsylvania.
Source: Philly Magazine on 2024 Vice Presidential hopefuls
Oct 1, 2019
Kamala Harris:
Teachers do God's work; we don't pay them nearly enough
KAMALA HARRIS: I love teachers. I really do. They do God's work. Think about it. We don't pay them nearly enough. And what is their calling? To teach other people's children. Right? So when you ask me what was that like?
What was the environment like? I think it was all of those incredible teachers who they set an example and they created an environment that was welcoming and nurturing.
Source: Howard Stern Show interview of 2024 Presidential hopefuls
Oct 10, 2024
Page last updated: Nov 03, 2024