With bipartisan support from two members of the Majority Caucus, Legislators Lorigo, Greene, Todaro, and Mills voted against a resolution in favor of canceling up to $50,000 in student loan debt per individual. Democrat Legislators Kevin Hardwick, Howard Johnson, April Baskin, Lisa Chimera, and Tim Meyers supported the measure that advocates for erasing trillions of dollars in federal and private student loans.

Legislator Lorigo said, “Erasing student debt would only pile on to our national debt and eventually become another burden on the taxpayer. Rather, government should focus on ways to make college more affordable in the future. Eliminating trillions of dollars in already-borrowed loans is simply not the answer.”

Legislator Greene said, “We cannot simply erase student loan debt across the board. It is unfair to those who worked tirelessly to get ahead and pay them off. Rather, we need to focus our attention at stopping the vicious cycle of student loan debts to begin with. We can’t change what has happened, but we can change what happens for generations to come.”

Legislator Todaro said, “I am against forgiving such an outrageous amount of student loan debt. We cannot say to those who have yet to pay it off that their debt is forgiven, when the other half worked hard and busted their backs to get that debt paid off. Instead, we need to look to the future and find a way to stop students from having to go into thousands and thousands of dollars into debt to attend college. This is just a Band-Aid on the issue when the solution is getting to the root cause.”

Legislator Mills said, “This would send the wrong message to many hard-working adults who have already paid off their loans. It’s also not as simple as just eliminating debt. Eventually, that money needs to be made up—and it will be shifted on to everyday taxpayers. Massive loan forgiveness like this would be irresponsible.”