Eleven Republican-led states have filed a lawsuit against President Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to block the administration’s latest student loan debt cancellation plan.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Kansas federal court by the state’s Attorney General Kris Kobach, involves states such as Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas, Utah’s attorney general also supports it.
They are authorized by Biden to develop the Savings for Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, an income-driven repayment plan for student loans that could cost taxpayers up to $475 billion over 10 years. He claims that he has overstepped his authority.
of complaint It claims the SAVE plan, which is due to come into force on July 1, is “inadequate in every respect”. [Biden’s] The first illegal debt forgiveness attempt under the HEROES Act, in which the president sought to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for approximately 40 million people.
Biden’s original $400 billion debt cancellation plan was struck down by the Supreme Court last summer.
“The last time Defendants heard this, the Supreme Court said this practice was illegal,” the complaint states. “Nothing has changed since then other than the introduction of yet another legal error in the analysis underlying this rule.”
The SAVE plan cuts student loan payments in half based on monthly income and eliminates monthly payments for minimum wage earners. For student loans of $12,000 or less, all outstanding debt will be forgiven after 10 years.
The Biden administration says most community college students won’t have to repay their debt under the plan.
Red state attorneys general claim the Biden administration’s $156 billion cost estimate for the SAVE plan is a “lower bound.”
The Congressional Budget Office estimates it will cost taxpayers $230 billion over 10 years, while the Penn-Wharton budget model projects it to cost as much as $475 billion over 10 years.
Kobach: “The law simply does not allow President Biden to do what he wants to do.” told reporters At the Kansas State Capitol on Thursday, he criticized Biden as “brazen” for moving forward with another student loan relief plan just weeks after the Supreme Court’s June 2023 ruling.
“Not since the Civil War era has a sitting president attempted to defy the Supreme Court in this way,” he added.
The White House did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education declined to comment on pending litigation, but said, “Congress gave the U.S. Department of Education authority in 1993 to define the terms of income-based repayment plans, and the SAVE plan “This is the fourth time I have used the system.” authority. “
“Since its inception, the Biden-Harris Administration has been fighting to fix our broken student loan system, and as part of that effort, we have lowered monthly payments, protected millions of borrowers from runaway interest rates, and “We are developing the most affordable student loan repayment plans in the world, helping borrowers get closer to debt forgiveness faster,” the spokesperson added.
“The Biden-Harris administration will not stop fighting to provide assistance and relief to borrowers across the country, no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to block it.”
