President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona are being sued once again over their plans to relieve student loan debts.
A group of Republican-led states are taking legal action against the federal government in an effort to end plans that would lower or eliminate debt for millions of student loan borrowers. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and joined by Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota and Ohio, the plaintiffs argue that Biden and Cardona have “unlawfully tried to mass cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in loans.”
The latest legal action pertains to a newly proposed regulation intended to assist borrowers who have been excluded from current loan forgiveness initiatives or are burdened by unsustainable debt. The plan, developed through the federal negotiated rulemaking procedure, is set to be approved in the fall.
However, the attorneys general of the Republican-led states said they obtained documents showing the department directed federal loan servicers to commence canceling hundreds of billions of dollars in loans as early as September 3 or September 7, prior to the official finalization of the rule. The states argue that the government has no such authority to carry out its plans.
President Joe Biden delivering remarks on new administration efforts to cancel student debt and support borrowers at the White House in Washington, D.C., on October 4, 2023. Seven Republican-led states have sued the federal government…
President Joe Biden delivering remarks on new administration efforts to cancel student debt and support borrowers at the White House in Washington, D.C., on October 4, 2023. Seven Republican-led states have sued the federal government over its plan to lower or eliminate debt for millions of student loan borrowers.
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“This is the third time the Secretary has unlawfully tried to mass cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in loans,” said the filing, which was made in a federal court in Brunswick, Georgia. “Courts stopped him the first two times, when he tried to do so openly. So now he is trying to do so through cloak and dagger.”
In a statement, Bailey said: “The Biden-Harris Administration is dedicated to saddling working Americans with Ivy League debt, even if they have to break the law to do it. Our latest lawsuit challenges their third and weakest attempt to mass-cancel student loans in the dark of night without letting Congress—or the public—know about it. That’s illegal.
“We successfully halted their first two illegal student loan cancellation schemes; I have no doubt we will secure yet another win to block the third one. They may be throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, but my office is meeting them every step of the way.”
Newsweek has contacted the Department for Education via email for comment outside normal working hours.
What’s Happened So Far?
GOP-led states have already taken legal action twice this year to prevent Biden’s debt forgiveness plans from going ahead. In June 2023, Republican-led states persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to block a $430 billion program supported by Biden.
That program would have canceled up to $20,000 in debt per borrower for as many as 43 million Americans. Biden said in March: “In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on my Administration’s original student debt relief plan, we are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible, as quickly as possible.”
Following the setback, the administration introduced the SAVE plan, aimed at reducing monthly payments for millions of borrowers and accelerating loan forgiveness for some.
However, Republican-led states—Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma—persuaded a federal appeals court to issue an injunction with a lawsuit that argued the SAVE plan lacked congressional authority. On August 28, the Supreme Court declined to lift the injunction.
“The SAVE plan is a clearly authorized and urgently needed effort to fix what’s broken in our student loan system and make financing a higher education more affordable in this country,” Cardona said in a statement issued on August 12.
While litigation plays out, the Education Department said, SAVE enrollees will be placed in an interest-free forbearance.
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Publish date : 2024-09-03 22:19:00
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