A U.S. district judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from implementing a plan to forgive student loan debt for millions of Americans.
St. Louis-based Matthew Shelp’s ruling was a victory for six Republican state attorneys general who had challenged the president’s plan.
Mr. Shelp, an appointee of President Donald Trump, announced that pending the outcome of the state’s lawsuit, the Biden administration would be unable to “mass cancel” student loans and forgive principal and interest under the plan. issued an injunction.
The ruling is a new hurdle for the Biden administration, which has had previous loan relief plans blocked. Biden campaigned in 2020 on a promise to reduce debt for millions of Americans who took out federal student loans to pay for expensive higher education.
Judge Shelp issued the ruling Wednesday after another judge removed the case from Georgia, ruling that the state would not suffer any legal damages under the debt relief plan. I put it down.
The state attorney general accused the U.S. Department of Education of overexerting its authority by proposing regulations that should be addressed through legislation in Congress.
The ministry proposed the plan in April after two previous plans were blocked by courts. This would eliminate $73 billion in student loan debt for an estimated 27.6 million borrowers.
The lawsuit was filed in Georgia, and U.S. District Judge J. Randall Hall issued a temporary restraining order on the plan in September, but that deadline expired Thursday. Hall is the judge who moved the case to Missouri.
Mr. Shelp said Thursday that he agreed with Mr. Hall that the relief program should be suspended until the courts have a chance to determine whether it is legal.
“Allowing Defendants to discharge the student loan debt at issue here would prevent this Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court from reviewing this case behind the scenes, and would prevent Defendants’ conduct from being reviewed. ,” Schelp wrote.
Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey called the ruling “another victory for the American people” in a statement.
The U.S. Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment.
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Under the proposed regulations, debt forgiveness would be given to people who owe more than they originally borrowed due to accrued interest. Someone who has been repaying the loan for at least 20 or 25 years, depending on the situation. and Borrowers who were eligible for forgiveness under a previous program but did not apply.
The rule has not yet been finalized, and the Justice Department pointed to this point by arguing that there is no final agency action for judges to consider.
States argued that once the rule is finalized, the administration is setting the stage for immediate cancellation of loans before challengers can sue to block them. Once the regulations are published, the Ministry of Education will be able to instruct debt collectors to immediately process debt forgiveness, he said.
The attorney general argued that such a step would be taken in the run-up to the presidential election, and that the administration would seek political credit for its policies.
The White House has argued that the current student loan system is broken and that debt relief is needed to ensure that borrowers are not burdened financially by their decision to pursue higher education.
Republicans counter that Biden’s student loan forgiveness approach is an overreach and gives an unfair advantage to college-educated borrowers, denying other people such relief.
