President Joe Biden took executive action in August to forgive the student loans of millions of Americans, and immediately hit tremendous opposition from Republicans. Now, for the second time, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to block President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program – at least for now.
16 million Americans have already been approved by the U.S. Dept. of Education to have their loans, or a portion of their loans, forgiven. 26 million have already applied.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett again decided, late Friday afternoon, to not weigh in on the Biden plan. Barrett “denied an emergency application brought by the Pacific Legal Foundation to block federal student loan forgiveness,” CNBC reports.
Unfortunately for those 16 million Americans, a GOP lawsuit, at least temporarily, is causing the forgiveness to be put on hold.
Insider on Thursday reported, “the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily paused the relief, in response to a lawsuit filed by six Republican-led states who argued the policy would hurt their states’ tax revenues, along with those of loan company MOHELA.”
“Biden’s debt relief plan has been hit with at least five other lawsuits seeking to block its implementation,” Insider adds. “While the cases have either been dismissed or appealed, a court has yet to officially strike down the whole plan. Still, the decision from the 8th Circuit looms, and until it comes, the Education Department cannot actually give borrowers relief.”
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Just weeks ago President Biden slammed top Republicans who oppose his student loan debt relief plan while they got (in some cases) up to or even more than $1 million in PPP loan forgiveness.