Alex Wong via Getty Images Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) are working together on new legislation to make college affordable.

WASHINGTON ― Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, unveiled one of his signature policy proposals Monday, a plan to make public college free ― with a new element of eliminating all the student debt in the country.

The legislation is the most sweeping college affordability plan to date. It eliminates tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities, as well as community colleges.

It also would wipe out all the existing student debt ― $1.6 trillion, covering 45 million Americans.

Sanders’ plan, which was shared in advance with HuffPost, goes further than what Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) ― who, along with Sanders, occupies the progressive lane in the 2020 race — has proposed. While the two will be on different nights for this week’s first Democratic presidential debates, it introduces a key difference in approach on a prominent policy issue.

The Sanders bill eliminates all student debt, whereas Warren’s plan ― while still substantial ― covers $1.25 trillion for 42 million people. The difference is that Warren’s plan has caps.

Warren’s proposal forgives $50,000 in student loan debt for every person with a household income of $100,000. People between $100,000 and $250,000 in household income would have a portion of their debt forgiven, and people above that amount would get no cancellation.

Once she released her plan in April, Warren made forgiving college debt a major issue in the presidential campaign. It’s been one of her most high-profile policy proposals.

In the House, Sanders is joined by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose Student Debt Cancellation Act would cancel all existing federal and private student loans, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), whose College for All Act would cover the free college aspect.

The three held a news conference Monday morning outside the Capitol with others, including Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers union, and several people who would have their student debt forgiven under the plans.

“Partial debt forgiveness won’t cut it,” said Pamela Hunt, a mother of four with student loans. “Even erasing $50,000 would still leave me with a balance of $162,000 in student debt. I am not asking for forgiveness. I am seeking justice. Ihe only justice is full debt cancellation.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) threw her support behind their approach of forgiving all debt Monday, telling reporters, “It was literally easier for me to become the youngest woman in American history elected to Congress than it is to pay off my student loan debt. So that should tell you everything about the state of this, of our economy and the state of quality of life for working people.”

Sanders’ bill would also cap student interest rates at no higher than what the federal government pays for its debt ― so that the government isn’t profiting off student loan programs ― and provide at least $1.3 billion per year to eliminate or reduce tuition and fees for low-income students at two- and four-year, private nonprofit historically black colleges and universities.