Clinton Questions Plausibility Of Sanders’s Free Tuition Proposal

Bernie Sanders wants college to be free for everyone, but Hillary Clinton doesn’t think that would be possible.

During tonight’s Democratic presidential debate in Milwaukee, Senator Sanders said that since the American people bailed out Wall Street, the financial sector should pay a “speculation tax” in order to “make public colleges and universities tuition-free.”

But Clinton, the former Secretary of State, said that while she also supports a goal of making college affordable, Sanders’s plan is wishful thinking, in large part because it would seem to depend on help from states.

“If you don’t have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it’s hard to get to where we need to go,” Clinton said. “And Senator Sanders’s plan really rests on making sure that governors like [Wisconsin’s] Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free.”

Playing on Walker’s penchant for opposing support for public education, Clinton then added, to much applause from the hall full of people familiar with the Republican governor’s agenda, “I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that.”