Two Courts Deliver Tough News for Biden on the Same Day
The Biden administration's attempt to use taxpayer dollars to pay off student loans faced setbacks as two federal courts partially blocked the initiative on Monday night.
Federal judges in Kansas and Missouri ruled in favor of Republican lawsuits challenging the administration's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, as reported by ABC News.
Launched in August, the SAVE Plan is an "income-driven repayment" strategy intended to restructure student loan payments based on the borrower's income, ultimately "forgiving" the remaining balance after a set number of years.
Republican states argued that the Biden administration bypassed Congress to implement this plan without proper authorization.
On Monday, two federal judges agreed with this argument.
Despite this procedural misstep, the White House blamed Republicans for obstructing student loan "forgiveness." White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated, "It’s unfortunate that Republican elected officials and their allies have fought tooth and nail to prevent their constituents from accessing lower payments and a faster path to debt forgiveness — and that courts are now rejecting authority that the Department has applied repeatedly for decades to improve income-driven repayment plans," according to ABC News.
The rulings do not completely terminate the SAVE Plan.
Although the Biden administration is currently barred from advancing the program, the 8 million Americans already enrolled will continue to benefit from it until the legal proceedings are concluded.
Phase two of the plan, which aims to halve monthly loan payments, and the portion that fully "cancels" student debt for those who have been paying for over ten years, have been paused.
Conservatives have consistently opposed student loan debt "forgiveness."
They argue that such plans unfairly burden responsible individuals who have paid off their loans or chose not to attend college. They also emphasize that these plans don't truly "cancel" loans but rather shift the financial burden to taxpayers.
An April report from The Associated Press noted that up to seven Republican-led states joined the first lawsuit led by Missouri against the SAVE Plan. The Kansas-led lawsuit, filed a month earlier, saw participation from GOP attorneys general in 11 states.
"Yet again, the President is unilaterally trying to impose an extraordinarily expensive and controversial policy that he could not get through Congress," the Missouri lawsuit contended.
If the plan fails, it would undermine what ABC News described as "a key part of [President Joe Biden’s] 2024 campaign strategy."