Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) are among the 59 members of Congress that owe student loans. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The story is part of a series about lawmakers’ personal financial disclosures. OpenSecrets recently updated its personal finances database to include data from lawmakers’ most recent filings released last May.

Congress threw a lifeline to student loan borrowers in the heavily lobbied $2.2 trillion stimulus bill by pausing payments on most federal loans. Now lawmakers want to do more to help borrowers who were already struggling to make payments before the coronavirus pandemic left millions unemployed.

After years of inaction, Washington’s newfound attention to the issue comes as nationwide student debt continues to soar. Many of the lawmakers pushing to address the crisis know firsthand about the expensive reality of student debt.

Fifty-nine members of Congress reported owing student loans in their latest financial disclosures released last year. Roughly 40 percent of those borrowers are part of the young and diverse class of freshman lawmakers first elected in 2018.

Most lawmakers report their assets and debts in wide ranges. With the new wave of members elected in 2018, the total student debt in the 116th Congress reached up to $5.8 million. That’s an increase from a maximum of $4.6 million in the previous Congress.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other progressives have made student loans a top priority, aiming to eliminate student debt entirely and make higher education free for all. Ocasio-Cortez reported owing between $15,001 and $50,000 in student loan debt in her most recent financial disclosure. Two of her closest allies in the House, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), also are paying back student loans.

Democrats in Congress have far more student debt than Republicans, likely because they make up the majority of the new lawmakers first elected in 2018. Progressives and conservatives alike have criticized the stimulus bill for not doing more to help borrowers. Lawmakers of both parties introduced a bill last week that would provide relief for student loan borrowers left out of the stimulus package.

Rank-and-file members have little control over what makes it into stimulus bills that are mostly negotiated by leaders of both parties. But more aggressive action to address student loans is becoming mainstream. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate at one point proposed cancelling at least $10,000 worth of student debt in the stimulus package, a measure that did not make the final bill.

Total outstanding student loan debt in the U.S. has tripled since 2006, totaling $1.6 trillion last year. An analysis by credit rating agency Moody’s found that most borrowers are not making any progress paying off their student loans.

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Many of the lawmakers introducing student loan bills are serving their first term in Congress. Many of them owe large amounts of student debt.

Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), the 2016 National Teacher of the Year, has degrees from four different colleges. Thus, she reported owing up to $300,000 in student debt. Several of Hayes’ proposals to reshape student loans made it into House Democrats’ bill to overhaul the cost of college.

“I wanted to be a teacher so badly that I accepted the debt I was incurring even though I knew my salary as a teacher would not yield an equal return on my investment,” Hayes said in a statement to Roll Call.

Rep. Steve Watkins (R-Kan.) owes up to $250,000 in student debt. He introduced bipartisan legislation that would allow borrowers to defer student loans by serving medical internships or residencies in rural or underserved areas. Another freshman Sunflower State lawmaker, Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.), also owes up to $250,000 in student debt. She’s proposed multiple bills meant to address rising student debt.

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who owes up to $50,000 in student debt, has introduced legislation that would allow companies to make tax-free contributions to their workers’ student debt payments.

“A significant portion of the American population has student loans, including me,” Gardner told the Colorado Sun.

Freshman lawmakers have some of the highest student debt totals in Congress. Reps. Ross Spano (R-Fla.) and Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.) reporting owing up to six figures in student debt. Reps. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.), Ben McAdams (D-Utah), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) and Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.) and their spouses each owe up to six figures in student debt.

Newly elected members of Congress are more likely to owe money for their own education. Those who have been in office for longer are more likely to take out loans for their family members’ education. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) owes up to $100,000 in student loans for his child. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) owes up to $250,000 in medical school debt for his wife.

Researcher Alex Baumgart contributed to this report.



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