Miguel Cardona flanks U.S. Secretary of Education Joe Biden as he speaks about the administration’s plan to forgive federal student loan debt during a speech in the Roosevelt Room in the White House, Washington, USA, August 24, 2022. president.
Leah Millis | Reuters
The Biden administration stopped accepting applications for federal student loan forgiveness after a court rejected that plan Thursday night.
According to a note on the studentaid.gov waiver application page, “the court issued an order blocking the student debt relief program.” “As a result, we are not accepting applications at this time. We are trying to overturn those orders.”
The suspension of the waiver program comes shortly after a federal judge in Texas overruled President Joe Biden’s enforcement action to cancel up to $20,000 in student loans for tens of millions of Americans in August. was broken
“This country is not run by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone,” U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Mark Pittman said in a 26-page ruling. Appointed in 2019 by the former president, Pittman sided with the Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative advocacy group.
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The group called Mr Biden’s plan “irrational, arbitrary and unfair” and accused the president of overreaching his powers. Their complaint alleges that the White House ignored federal procedures by not seeing public comment on the program.
The Biden administration said the Justice Department has already appealed the decision.
“Biden Harris’ student debt relief plan is legal and will give borrowers and working families a breather as they recover from the pandemic, ensuring success when repayments resume,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “We are not withdrawing from efforts to block our debt relief program.”
A major obstacle for those hoping to file a legal challenge to Biden’s plans is finding plaintiffs who can prove they have been harmed by the policy.
Lawrence Tribe, a Harvard law professor, said, “You need injuries like this to prove what courts call ‘standing.
As such, Tribe said he was upset by the Texas judge’s ruling.
“Judge Pittman’s decision was as wrong and strange as any federal court decision I remember reading,” Tribe said. It was a mistake to decide on the merits without deciding first.”
Obstacles pile up for Biden’s forgiveness plan
The president’s student loan forgiveness plan had already been put on hold due to challenges from six Republican-led states: Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina.
A federal judge dismissed the state action, saying it had filed “a material and material challenge to the debt relief plan” but ultimately lacked legal status to pursue the case.
The Republican-led state didn’t give up after the lawsuit was dismissed. They appealed, asking the court to postpone the president’s plans to begin deployment in October while their request is considered.
The 8th U.S. Court of Appeals for the Circuit granted the state’s emergency petition, making it impossible for the Biden administration to forgive student debt.
However, the Ministry of Education had advised the borrower to continue applying for forgiveness as the plan had not yet been cancelled.
26 million borrowers apply for waivers
On August 24th, Biden announced that tens of millions of Americans are eligible for student loan forgiveness. Up to $20,000 if you receive a Pell Her Grant, a type of aid available to low-income households, and up to $10,000 if you don’t. they didn’t.
Long before Mr. Biden acted under pressure from consumer advocates and other Democrats, Republicans criticized student loan forgiveness as a ration for wealthy college graduates. They also argued that the president does not have the power to forgive consumer debt on his own without Congress.
Not surprisingly, it was inundated with legal challenges. So far, at least six lawsuits have been filed against the president’s plans.
Initially, the education ministry said borrowers would receive the waiver within six weeks of applying. The full application began on Oct. 17, he said, and within three weeks about 26 million people had applied for relief. To date, 16 million of his requests have been approved.
For now, the department has said it will put applications on hold for borrowers who have already applied.
Higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz said borrowers should sit still and wait and see what happens.
“The program has been suspended, but the U.S. Department of Education is appealing,” Kantrowitz said.
