MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle said Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D., Mass.) student debt cancellation proposal "does nothing to lower the cost of college" on Monday.
Warren has received accolades and friendly media profiles for her steady release of detailed policy proposals, but conservative MSNBC contributor Noah Rothman said they weren't getting the scrutiny they deserved.
"God bless Elizabeth Warren for coming out with a policy-oriented campaign. We get to talk about issues rather than red meat," he said. "That's wonderful. The problem with her big ideas is a lot of them are awful."
Rothman criticized Warren's universal child-care plan, for example, saying her goal of providing free care to those making 200 percent of the poverty level or capping the charge at 7 percent of a family's come, would require capping costs in the child care industry.
"You do that one of two ways. Regulating the industry or creating some sort of a federal alternative," he said. "I'm not sure if people are going to like dropping their kids off at federal day care."
He also critiqued her plan to cancel 95 percent of student debt, calling it the largest transfer of wealth "to wealthy people" in the country's history. Experts have said her plan will benefit colleges and universities as well, since they would be likely to hike tuition fees.
"And it does nothing to lower the cost of college," Ruhle said.
"Not at all, and it makes people who paid off their loans feel like suckers, sowing the seeds for a populist backlash," Rothman added.
Warren has proposed to pay for some of her major programs with a wealth tax on the 75,000 wealthiest households in the United States, but the Washington Free Beacon's analysis shows such a tax is fraught with issues, chief among them being possibly unconstitutional.
Warren has established herself in the top tier of 2020 Democratic candidates after a slow start, consistently polling in the top two or three in the crowded field.