A federal court in Texas on Thursday blocked the Biden Administration’s student loan forgiveness program on the grounds that it would have violated federal procedures by failing to seek «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 meet the requirements for forgiving student debts of up to $10,000 for young people earning 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 following lawsuits imposed by six Republican-led states, concluding that the plaintiffs did not have standing to file such appeals.
The U.S. conservative opposition, including leading congressmen and senators, as well as prosecutors and judges, have been discussing legal options to dismantle Biden’s plan, which they claim represents «an illegal executive overreach», since he announced it in August, according to the newspaper.
Likewise, 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».
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT APPEALS BLOCK 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 extremist Republican special interests–sued to prevent millions of Americans from receiving much-needed relief,» the White House said in a statement.
In this sense, the U.S. Government has announced that it will maintain the data of the 26 million people who have filed petitions to receive the debt forgiveness, reiterating that they will grant the funds once the measure prevails in court.
«We will never stop fighting for the neediest American workers, no matter what obstacles and special interests our opponents try to put in our way,» the U.S. administration has added.
Biden’s plan calls for cancellation of $10,000 in debt incurred by all young people earning less than $125,000 a year. And, in the case of those who have received public aid for higher education, the money pardoned amounts to 20,000 dollars, according to the White House.
The U.S. Administration estimates that 45 million citizens have debts of this type, totaling 1.6 billion dollars. About 16 percent of these people do not have the resources to pay them, and this burden is particularly heavy on traditionally vulnerable groups, such as the black community.
Despite GOP attempts to overturn the measure, the U.S. government has argued that it is authorized to cancel the debt through the Higher Education Student Opportunity Relief Act of 2003. The legislation allows the Secretary of Education to cancel the debt of student loan borrowers in times of «national emergency.»
