A federal court in Texas on Thursday blocked the Biden Administration’s student loan forgiveness program, alleging that it violated federal procedures by not asking for “public comment” before introducing the program.
The Job Creators Network Foundation has filed a lawsuit on behalf of two individuals who claim that President Joe Biden’s measure does not qualify to forgive student debt of up to $10,000 for young people who earn less than $125,000 a year. , as reported by ‘The Washington Post’.
For this reason, Mark Pittman, a federal judge appointed by Donald Trump, has blocked the measure after the US Supreme Court refused to hinder the program after the lawsuits imposed by six states led by the Republicans, concluding that the plaintiffs did not have standing. to present these appeals.
America’s conservative opposition, including top congressmen and senators, as well as prosecutors and judges, have been discussing legal options to dismantle Biden’s plan, which they say represents “illegal executive overreach,” ever since he announced in August, according to the aforementioned newspaper.
In addition, the plaintiffs have also previously argued that the student loan forgiveness program harmed taxpayers or that the federal government “does not have the authority to cancel the debt because Congress has not authorized it.”
The White House has shown its rejection of the Texas federal court’s blocking of its student debt relief plan, which is why the Justice Department has filed an appeal.
“The President and this Administration are determined to help working and middle-class Americans get back on their feet, while our opponents — backed by hardline Republican special interests — sued to prevent millions of Americans from getting the relief they they needed so much,” the White House said in a statement.
In this sense, the United States Government has announced that it will maintain the data of the 26 million people who have submitted requests to receive debt forgiveness, reiterating that they will grant the funds once the measure prevails in court.
“We will never stop fighting for America’s most needy workers, no matter what obstacles and special interests our opponents try to put in our way,” the US administration added.
Biden’s plan proposes the cancellation of $10,000 in debt acquired by all those young people who earn less than $125,000 a year. And, in the case of those who have received public aid to pursue higher education, the pardoned money amounts to $20,000, according to the White House.
The US Administration estimates that 45 million citizens have debts of this type, for a total of 1,600 million dollars. About 16 percent of these people do not have the resources to pay for them and this burden is especially heavy on traditionally vulnerable groups, such as the black community.
Despite attempts by the Republican Party to strike down the measure, the US government has argued that it is authorized to cancel the debt through the Higher Education Student Relief Opportunity Act of 2003. The legislation allows the Secretary of Education cancel the debt of student loan borrowers in times of “national emergency”.
