Biden administration answers student loan court challenge; says the plan is legal

The federal government said six states suing to stop the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan cannot prove they will be injured if the debt relief program is put into place.

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Answering a suit that has led to a federal judge temporarily suspending the program on Friday, attorneys representing the government told a judge that forgiving a portion of federally backed student loan debt would create no hardship on the states, but that if the judge sees otherwise, the attorneys asked that his ruling be limited to those six states.

The six states are Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina.

“Plaintiffs will suffer no irreparable injury from the provision of much-needed relief to millions of Americans, but the public interest would be greatly harmed by its denial,” the Biden administration said in its court filing. “If the Court disagrees, any injunction should be narrowly tailored to the plaintiff States.”

Biden’s plan calls for eliminating up to $10,000 in federally backed student loan debt for millions of borrowers who make less than $125,000 individually or $250,000 as a couple, and $20,000 for those who took out Pell Grants.

According to the Department of Education, as of Friday, 22 million people had already applied for student loan forgiveness. That number represents about half of those eligible for the plan.

The government also argued that the states did not have a valid claim when they argued that the president did not have the authority to initiate the plan. The administration said it has the authority to forgive the debt under the HEROES Act, which was passed following the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The attorneys general of the six states that filed the suit said the administration doesn’t have the authority to issue the order without congressional approval.

That argument was heard by a federal district judge last week who dismissed the lawsuit. The states appealed to the 8th Circuit Court on Friday, and that court issued the temporary stay.

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