With just two weeks remaining before a pandemic-related pause on federal student loan payments expires, progressive lawmakers and activists are pressing President Biden to take sweeping action to cancel student debt. Today the Debt Collective is launching its “50 Over 50” campaign, a coordinated strike by 50 debtors over the age of 50 who say they’ll refuse to pay back their loans should President Biden renege on his campaign promise to cancel student debt. Activists are calling for the cancellation of all federal student debt — or at least $50,000 per person. This is Debt Collective activist Lystra Small-Clouden.

Lystra Small-Clouden: “Me and my fellow strikers can’t pay this debt, and we won’t pay. … Although I achieved my academic goals, my success was short-lived, because within my household we have accumulated over $300,000 in student debt. That’s why I am joining the 50 Over 50 debt strike. The 50 of us collectively hold nearly $6 million in student debt. I am pleading with President Joe Biden: Please make things right. Cancel all student debt.”