The White House on Friday filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court to reinstate the Biden administration’s student loan debt forgiveness after a lower court blocked it.
President Joe Biden announced the executive order in August, which would cancel thousands of dollars in federal student loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year.
On Nov. 10, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit froze the plan and prompted the federal government to stop receiving applications, ruling in favor of six Republican-led states.
“The Eighth Circuit’s erroneous injunction leaves millions of economically vulnerable borrowers in limbo, uncertain about the size of their debt and unable to make financial decisions with an accurate understanding of their future repayment obligations,” U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, told the Supreme Court on Friday.
The six states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, and South Carolina — jointly filed a 36-page complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri last month, which sought to block the implementation of Biden’s initiative.
Officials from those states claimed that Biden’s gift violated the separation of powers and a law that governs how federal agencies create regulations, and that it would cost some states tax revenue.
“In addition to being economically unwise and downright unfair, the Biden Administration’s Mass Debt Cancellation is yet another example in a long line of unlawful regulatory actions,” they wrote. “No statute permits President Biden to unilaterally relieve millions of individuals from their obligation to pay loans they voluntarily assumed.”
Nearly 26 million people already have applied for the relief, with 16 million approved, but the Department of Education stopped accepting and processing applications last week after it was halted by a lower court.
GOP lawmakers have long slammed Biden’s program, claiming that it will worsen inflation numbers.
“These handouts are getting ridiculous,” said Texas Rep. Troy Nehls. “Whether it’s $300 billion or $600 billion or more, I am telling you, the American people right now do not support this. And I think we need to challenge his (Biden’s) ability to do so because you can’t put this debt upon the American people. Enough is enough.”
