Seven Republican attorneys general filed a lawsuit Tuesday against President Joe Biden’s administration over a new student loan forgiveness plan rolled out this week.
Biden announced Monday that he was rolling out the plan, which would cancel a minimum of $5,000 for over 10 million Americans with student loans, despite the Supreme Court striking down Biden’s previous initiative in June 2023. Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey of Missouri filed a lawsuit alongside Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma, arguing that the president’s plan was unconstitutional and “illegal.”
“With the stroke of his pen, Joe Biden is attempting to saddle working Missourians with a half trillion dollars in college debt. The United States Constitution makes clear that the President lacks the authority to unilaterally ‘cancel’ student loan debt for millions of Americans without express permission from Congress,” Bailey said in a press release. “The President does not get to thwart the Constitution when it suits his political agenda. I’m filing suit to halt his brazen attempt to curry favor with some citizens by forcing others to shoulder their debts. The Constitution will continue to mean something as long as I’m Attorney General.”
The president’s new plan focuses on low-and-middle income Americans and those who attended a “low-financial-value” institution, who will now be able to enroll in an “income-driven repayment plan.” The plan has been criticized for ignoring the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision that struck down the president’s unilateral forgiveness of student debt through the Department of Education’s emergency authority.
The lawsuit, citing the Supreme Court ruling, argues that Biden and his administration are attempting “to sidestep the Constitution” and “impose drastic, costly policy changes on the American people without their consent.”
Read full article from The Daily Signal.
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