Hasan Minhaj testifies before Congress about crushing student loan debt

Hasan Minhaj is speaking out against the crushing and overwhelming realities of student loan debt in America.

The comedian and host of Netflix's political comedy show, Patriot Act, attended a hearing hosted by the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday to testify before a congressional committee on the issue of student debt.

After thanking Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters for inviting him to speak and making several slightly awkward jokes, Minhaj brought up a recent episode of his show that touched on the student debt crisis and launched into a 5-minute statement.

"This issue is sidelining millions of Americans. People are putting off marriage, kids, home ownership, and retirement. Especially my generation," Minhaj began.

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Minhaj went on to stress how expensive college tuitions have become in recent decades, and said, "We’ve put up a paywall to the middle class."

He then went on to call out Netflix, the streaming service that houses his own show, and noted that Americans don't need any more paywalls in their lives.

"That’s why we put our entire show for free on YouTube. It's also because you can’t find anything on Netflix. It's like the lost and found bin of entertainment," he joked.

Minhaj continued by calling out the government for putting students' financial futures "in the hands of predatory, for-profit loan servicing companies" and said, "We know the deck is stacked against student borrowers in ways that it wasn't 10 or even 15 years ago and they deserve some basic protections."

"Americans should not have to go bankrupt pursuing higher education," Minhaj said.

In 2019, student loan debt is estimated to be around $1.5 trillion and impact more than 44 million borrowers. Per The Hill, the committee was meeting to discuss the CFPB Student Loan Integrity and Transparency Act and the Transforming Student Debt to Home Equity Act.