President Joe Biden is disappointing liberal activists and his wife as congressional Democrats are poised to scrap a program providing two years of free community college to eligible students.
And as Biden, White House aides, and Capitol Hill Democrats frantically chip away at their original $3.5 trillion social welfare and climate spending package, as well as try to agree on how to pay for the final product, they risk alienating the young voters they hope the package will energize before next year’s midterm elections.
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Dropping the free community college program is “an unforced error” by Democrats, according to one party strategist.
“The youth vote was decisive for Democrats in 2020, including for Joe Biden,” the source said. “We ran on making college more affordable and have to deliver on that. Young people and everyone struggling with crushing student loan debt are counting on us to take action. We have to get this done or risk them staying home in 2022.”
Roughly a third of respondents approve of Biden’s job as president, the lowest national survey approval number of his term so far, according to a Quinnipiac University poll published this week. A majority disapproved of Biden, while 12% did not share an opinion. And he fares worse among people aged 18-34. Among that demographic, 3 in 10 approve of Biden, almost half disapprove, and another fifth did not offer an opinion.
For the Brookings Institution’s Darrell West, whose research focuses on the “future of work,” young people will be “upset” since they are “the ones who need to upgrade their job skills to prepare for a 21st-century economy.”
“It will be harder for them to gain needed skills if they have to pay the full tuition,” he told the Washington Examiner.
Biden has shored up student debt forgiveness programs for teachers and healthcare providers, but may not be able to cover more groups since the social welfare and climate package’s cost has to be closer to $2 trillion to please Democratic centrist Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona in an evenly divided Senate, West said.
“There will be far fewer resources than thought a few months ago for education-related programs,” he added.
Young people yearning for generational change were suspicious of Biden, then a 77-year-old third-time candidate, during the 2020 campaign. Many protested Biden’s events over his immigration and climate record and now take part in demonstrations outside the White House. It was widely assumed immigration would not be addressed in the social welfare and climate package. But Manchin opposing Biden’s main climate proposal, the $150 billion Clean Electricity Performance Program, which would have paid utility companies to pivot to clean energy, along with nixing free community college, will affirm young liberals’ fears about the administration.
The development indicates Democrats are readying to pitch themselves to other voters, such as suburban women, before next year’s midterm cycle. West suggested that was because young people “vote at lower levels than older people.”
“That often means their issues get short shrift because politicians go for the issues of those who are voting,” he said.
The community college decision has also frustrated another key Biden constituency: his wife. “I’m going to get it done, or I’ll be sleeping alone for a long time,” the president quipped at a CNN town hall in Baltimore Thursday night.
But first lady Jill Biden, who teaches English and writing classes at Northern Virginia Community College, remained optimistic despite the setback on Thursday.
“I would say we’re not giving up. We are not giving up. This is round one. This is year one. I’m going to keep going,” she said.
Aggressive Progressive podcast host and former Democratic consultant Christopher Hahn conceded there was disappointment surrounding the news. But there are “a lot of good things” in Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan bricks-and-mortar infrastructure deal and larger spending package,” he said.
“As for student debt, there’s a lot POTUS can do without Congress, and I expect he will act at some point early next year,” he added.
Biden believes college should be more affordable, which is why he proposed free community college in the first place, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
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“He also continues to — would welcome a bill sent by Congress that would eliminate $10,000 in student debt. That hasn’t passed. That’s something everybody could certainly work toward passing,” she said this month.
