Department of Education overstepped its authority, courts say
Two federal judges issued orders temporarily blocking President Joe Biden’s new student loan forgiveness plan on Monday.
In a post on X, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said the decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in response to his lawsuit was a “huge win.”
“The Constitution makes clear that Joe Biden does not get to thwart Congress when it suits his political agenda. The Constitution will continue to mean something as long as I’m Attorney General,” Bailey told FOX Business in an interview Monday.
Currently, 17 states are suing to stop the Biden administration’s student loan bailout, Saving on a Valuable Education Plan, in two separate lawsuits. The program is an income-based student loan repayment plan that provides full loan forgiveness in certain cases.
Politico reports:
District Judge John A. Ross of the Eastern District of Missouri blocked the Education Department from carrying out “any further loan forgiveness for borrowers” under the SAVE program until he decides the full case.
Ross ruled that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and other GOP states who sued were likely to succeed on their claims that the Biden administration lacks the authority to forgive student debt under the SAVE program.
He agreed that the program’s loan forgiveness provisions would likely harm Missouri because it would reduce the fees that the Education Department pays to the Missouri Higher Education Assistance Agency.
U.S. District Court for Kansas Judge Daniel Crabtree also issued a ruling Monday blocking parts of the plan in response to a different lawsuit by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, according to the Kansas City Star.
Crabtree ruled “the Department of Education overstepped its authority with the scope of its new rule, because it goes beyond numbers specifically set by Congress,” the Star reports.
“Kansas’s victory today is a victory for the entire country. As the court correctly held, whether to forgive billions of dollars of student debt is a major question that only Congress can answer. Biden’s administration is attempting to usurp Congress’s authority,” Kobach wrote on X.
“This is not only unconstitutional, it’s unfair. Blue collar Kansas workers who didn’t go to college shouldn’t have to pay off the student loans of New Yorkers with gender studies degrees,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement the Biden administration stands by the SAVE program and will continue to defend it.
“Today’s rulings won’t stop our Administration from using every tool available to give students and borrowers the relief they need. That’s why the Department of Education will continue to enroll more Americans in SAVE and help more students and borrowers access the benefits of the plan that remain available …” Jean-Pierre stated.
A recent report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the bailout “will cost a combined $870 billion to $1.4 trillion.”
MORE: Experts divided on Biden’s new student loan forgiveness plan
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