As the Biden administration enters its final stages, two new student debt relief programs face imminent termination as they undergo final reviews before formal implementation.
The two programs include a second attempt to provide sweeping student loan forgiveness to millions of borrowers under the Higher Education Act, colloquially known as “Plan B.” There is. This comes after a federal court ruled that the Biden administration's first attempt at providing widespread student loan funding was a failure. Pardons based on administrative lawsuits were unconstitutional. The second program focuses on people facing financial hardship and aims to provide student loan relief to millions more.
The two programs had been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review as of Tuesday, one of the final steps before the policies are officially published in the Federal Register.
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Next to an image of the Supreme Court is an image of protesters calling on the Biden administration to cancel student loan debt. (SoFi and Getty Images)
After the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration's first attempt to achieve broad student loan forgiveness, ruling that it was an overreach of the executive branch's power under the Constitution, the president and his team are moving forward with new plans. I started working on it. Its “Plan B” aims to provide relief to about 23 million borrowers, especially those whose loan balances have been affected by unlimited interest accumulation.
Meanwhile, the second program aims to provide additional student loan forgiveness to 8 million borrowers facing financial hardship. If the new rules are finalized, they will extend student loan forgiveness to people the department deems at least 80% likely to default on their loans based on a “predictive assessment using existing borrower data.” It will be accepted only once.
Earlier this month, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-Rep.), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, sent a letter to the Biden administration denouncing the administration's efforts as a “band-aid measure that forces taxpayers to pay the bills.” It's someone else's debt. ”
“If this administration spent half the time promoting this illegal free college policy on addressing the root causes of our broken student loan system, college would be a lot cheaper.” she said.
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Congresswoman Virginia Foxx speaks during a press conference at the Capitol Visitor Center. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Meanwhile, Madison Doan, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Education Policy Center, told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness efforts could be struck down in court for the same reasons that previous programs were blocked. He said that he has a high level of sexuality. He also pointed to a recent decision overturning Chevron's deference, which previously allowed courts to defer to enforcement agencies in cases where the statutory text is unclear, such as in relation to the Higher Education Act.
“These precedents will determine whether the courts will uphold the administration's attempt to use vague language in old statutes to justify sweeping new powers to cancel billions in loans at the expense of taxpayers. It raises questions,” Doan said. He also noted that two Democratic-appointed judges have suggested that opponents of the rule “are likely to succeed based on the merits” of their legal challenges.
In addition to the two programs in the final approval stage, the Biden administration is also pushing through new interim rules, once enacted, that would restart enrollment in currently stalled income-driven student loan repayment plans. court. The new rules include certain changes from the original income-driven repayment plan to provide protection from the same legal issues that thwarted the first attempt.
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However, the rule is not scheduled to go into effect until several months after President-elect Trump's second term begins, and is likely to be rescinded as a result. Although President Trump has not formally laid out a plan for how he will address the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness policy, he has indicated plans to reform the federal government's role in American education during his term.
Student debt relief activists rally at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., June 30, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“The lesson that President Biden should take away from the Supreme Court's student loan decision is that if he wants to forgive debt, he needs to strike a deal with Congress,” said Catholic University of America law professor Chad Scutieri, Fox He told News Digital. “President Biden’s efforts to proceed unilaterally without Congress during the waning days of his administration are just the latest effort to use administrative rulemaking as a substitute for the federal lawmaking process. It may be easier to legislate, but it could come at the cost of undermining more stable solutions to debt relief. ”
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Administrative rulemaking is essential for the Biden administration, and it has used policymaking tools to implement various reforms. As of Dec. 3, the Biden administration set a new record for filling the most Federal Register pages in a single year. 96,088. The numbers put the administration on pace to fill more than 100,000 pages by the end of its term.
