Late Friday night, a federal appeals court put a brief halt to President Joe Biden’s student debt fo
Late Friday night, a federal appeals court put a brief halt to President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness program, stopping loans from being canceled until the court reviews the legal challenge, but the White House continues to be encouraging applications.
In response to the court’s temporary hold, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave a statement: “Tonight’s temporary order does not prevent borrowers from applying for student debt relief at studentaid.gov – and we encourage eligible borrowers to join the nearly 22 million Americans whose information the Department of Education already has. It also does not prevent us from reviewing these applications and preparing them for transmission to loan servicers.”
As much as $20,000 of debt per applicant could possibly be canceled under the new plan; the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the program would cost about $400 billion over the following 30 years.
The case was brought by six Republican-led states—Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Iowa—that contend that Biden doesn’t have the authority to grant such sweeping loans without the approval of Congress. In response, the government stated due to a 2003 federal law, Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act, the Department of Education has “broad authority to manage the federal student financial aid programs.”
A district court dismissed the suit earlier this week, saying the states didn’t establish standing.
On Thursday, in a separate attempt to block Biden’s loan forgiveness plan, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected an emergency request from a taxpayers’ association in Wisconsin to halt the policy.
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Earlier on Friday, while giving remarks at Delaware State University, President Biden called out Republicans, together with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who criticized his loan forgiveness plan as being hypocritical as they had massive PPP loans forgiven: “Representative Vern Buchanan of Florida said our plan was ‘reckless.’ Guess how much he got in that program forgiven? $2,300,000.”
Biden continued: “Ted Cruz, the great senator from Texas, said [the program] is for slackers who don’t deserve relief. Who in the hell do they think they are?”
In response, Cruz tweeted that Biden had “unbelievable gall” for “comparing PPP loans…to loan forgiveness he gave to his Ivy League slacker fringe liberal base to buy their votes.”
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As the Biden administration continues to face legal challenges, it has stated it would not begin to cancel debt earlier than Sunday, October 23. The deadline for the government to reply to the states’ filing is Monday, whereas the deadline for the states to answer to the government’s response is Tuesday.
Source: President Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Temporarily Halted By Appeals Court
