President Joe Biden's intend to forgive as much as $20,000 in education loan debt per borrower just faced another major setback.
On Wednesday, a federal appeals court denied the Biden administration's request to position a hold on a Texas federal judge's ruling that blocked the implementation from the education loan forgiveness plan. This most recent rejection of Biden's loan forgiveness plan's the third major setback for the enter in recent weeks. As the Top court agreed on Thursday to issue your final ruling around the policy, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Biden administration's plan to enact sweeping education loan forgiveness is within grave danger.
In August, the Biden administration announced the Department of Education would be forgiving as much as $20,000 in federal education loan debt per borrower. Based on the proposal, all borrowers making under $125,000 annually, or married people making under $250,000 annually, were eligible for $10,000 of loan forgiveness, rising to $20,000 if the borrower would be a Pell Grant recipient.
However, the program faced swift criticism-and legal challenges. On November 10, a Texas federal judge ruled this program unconstitutional and unlawful. Just four days later, a Missouri appeals court placed an injunction against the program pending further appeals.
As if the wasn't bad enough for loan forgiveness supporters, on Wednesday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Biden administration's request to position a hold on the Texas federal judge's ruling.
The 5th Circuit's ruling was brief, also it didn't contain a reason from the judges. According to Bloomberg, Biden administration officials say they intend to appeal the ruling towards the Top court, because they have already done with the injunction placed through the Missouri appeals court.
\”We are positive about our legal authority to carry out the student debt relief program and will also be taking this fight to the final Court too,\” White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan told Bloomberg. \”Republican officials and special interests are trying to rob middle-class groups of the relief they require and deserve, but the president doesn't down again from the fight, especially one for middle-class families.\”
Despite pending appeals, it seems increasingly unlikely that sweeping student loan forgiveness will be enacted. The continuing setbacks to the program come as a welcome reprieve for critics from the plan, who explain not only the insane price of the program-as high as $1 trillion based on some estimates-but also the proven fact that the plan does little to resolve the problem of ridiculously high educational costs.
Biden's vision for massive student loan forgiveness is increasingly unlikely to come to fruition, which most recent rejection from the federal court can serve as clear vindication for those who warned the plan was a dangerous overreach of executive authority.
