There are multiple ways to attack and ease the problem, its not an either/or approach. We could help people now, while tackling the long term issues.
I definitely support the development of a policy designed to attack the short term problem of untenable student debt (to the extent there is a problem... I think income based repayment is already a good policy targeting this), while also targeting the underlying causes of the student debt situation.
But this forgiveness policy was not that. It was a half-assed political gesture toward a campaign promise that the administration never seriously thought was going to solve any problems.
They picked their legislative priorities intentionally (pandemic recovery, infrastructure, and climate), and explicitly chose not to include this one.