Staff Reports
Six Republican-led states are suing the Biden administration to thwart its student loan debt cancellation plan.
It's the second legal challenge this week to President Biden's pledge to cancel $20,000 in student debts. The declaration became political fodder before the November midterms after months of internal disagreements and liberal pressure.
In a federal complaint filed Thursday in Missouri, Republican states contend that Biden's cancellation plan is "not even targeted to address the pandemic's consequences on federal student loan borrowers," as required by a 2003 federal legislation the administration is using as legal basis. Biden declared the Covid-19 outbreak over on "60 Minutes" this month, but he still cites it to explain debt relief.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge leads the coalition and says education debt is unreasonable.
She stated the Education Department must recover loans. Biden can't change it."
Arkansas and 5 other states sued. Kim Reynolds, Iowa's Republican governor, signed. The states say Biden's loan cancellations damaged Missouri's loan servicer. Other states worry Biden's approach will disrupt funding.
Biden's plan forgives $10,000 in student loan debt for low-income individuals and families. Pell Grant recipients get $10,000 in debt forgiveness.
The government will also extend the freeze on federal student loan repayments.
Conservative lawyers, Republican politicians, and business groups believed Biden overstepped his power by acting without Congress' assent.
Democratic senators up for reelection distanced themselves from the student loan plan, which Republicans called an unjust government handout for wealthy people at the expense of non-college-goers.
In their case, Republican attorneys general say the forgiveness program violates the Administrative Procedures Act, which dictates how federal agencies should guarantee executive branch decisions are well-reasoned and explained.
"The president can't replace Congress" Congress must take it; he can't.
The Biden administration relies on a post-9/11 rule meant to aid military troops, which the Justice Department says allows Biden to reduce or erase student loan debt in a national emergency. GOP says the administration misinterprets the law because the pandemic is no longer a national emergency.
The Pacific Legal Foundation, a libertarian legal advocacy group, sued Biden this week over student loan forgiveness. The group's lawyer thinks the proposal will hurt him. Frank Garrison, a lawyer, thinks erasing his debt may have financial consequences in Indiana, one of six states that tax forgiven loan amounts.
Any borrower can opt out of debt relief, the White House stated. The Education Department will distribute the application in October.
The Biden plan's cost and deficit implications have been challenged by Republicans. The CBO estimates the project's 30-year cost at $400 billion. The White House claimed the CBO's first-year cost estimate of $21 billion is lower than it expected.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on NEWSMAX.
