Six Republican-led states are suing the Biden administration for allegedly overstepping executive powers related to President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.
The Biden administration unveiled its plan to partially forgive student loans for certain borrowers in August, using the HEROES Act of 2003 as precedent for the decision and arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic created an emergency situation allowing the federal government to forgive student debt.
The Republican states argued that the Biden administration exceeded its statutory authority, as well as citing a “60 Minutes” interview in which Biden said the pandemic was “over” as evidence that the pandemic could not be used to justify the action, according to a news release Thursday from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
“The Biden Administration’s executive action to cancel student loan debt was not only unconstitutional, it will unfairly burden working class families and those who chose not to take out loans or have paid them off with even more economic woes,” Schmitt said in a statement.
“The Biden Administration’s unlawful edict will only worsen inflation at a time when many Americans are struggling to get by,” he said.
The lawsuit is being filed in Missouri because it has a loan servicer that the states argue is already being harmed by the Biden plan. Other states say their revenue will be disrupted by the cancellation program https://t.co/IajidhZyXX
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 29, 2022
The attorney generals of Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Carolina joined Missouri in filing the lawsuit.
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“It’s patently unfair to saddle hard-working Americans with the loan debt of those who chose to go to college,” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said in a statement.
“The Department of Education is required, under the law, to collect the balance due on loans. And President Biden does not have the authority to override that,” she added.
.@JoeBiden’s unlawful political play puts the self-wrought college debt on the backs of hardworking Americans who are struggling to pay their bills in the midst of Biden’s inflation. He doesn’t have the power to erase the college debt of adults who chose to take out the loans.
— Leslie Rutledge (@AGRutledge) September 29, 2022
Biden’s plan, which cancels $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income and $20,000 for Pell grant recipients, faced another legal challenge this week from the Pacific Legal Foundation.
On Tuesday, the Sacramento legal advocacy group filed a lawsuit in Indiana claiming the student debt forgiveness was an executive overreach that would undoubtedly increase the tax burdens of Americans, The Associated Press reported.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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