Appeals court rejects Biden’s appeal to reinstate student loan plan

A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected the stay. Texas Judge’s Decision It said President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt is illegal.

The New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed the Biden administration’s request to suspend a November 10 judge’s order to rescind the $400 billion student debt relief program after conservative advocacy groups. Dismissed in the lawsuit pursued.

A decision by Judge Mark Pittman of the U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, Texas, nationwide prevented the U.S. Department of Education under the Biden administration from making progress granting debt relief to millions of borrowers. It was one of two decisions.

administration is asked the U.S. Supreme Court Similarly, at the request of six Republican-led states, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in St. Louis, lifted an order barring student loan cancellations.

A panel of three Fifth Circuit judges, in a brief order Wednesday, refused to suspend Pittman’s sentencing while the administration appeals his decision, but the court said it would expedite the appeal. instructed to examine.

The committee included two Republican appointees and one judge nominated by former President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Pittman was appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump.

Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year, and $250,000 for married couples. Students who receive a Pell Grant to benefit low-income college students will have up to $20,000 of debt written off.

During the 2020 presidential election, Biden promised to help debt-laden former college students. garnered opposition.

The Congressional Budget Office calculated in September that implementing the debt forgiveness program would cost taxpayers about $400 billion.

About 26 million Americans have applied for student loan forgiveness, and the U.S. Department of Education had already approved 16 million applications when Pittman rendered his ruling.

Pittman is partially or fully ineligible for loan forgiveness, backed by the Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative advocacy group founded by Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus. Judgment was rendered in a lawsuit filed by a person’s borrower.

The judge said it didn’t matter whether Mr. Biden’s plan was good public policy. Because the plan was “one of the greatest non-congressional legislative exercises in U.S. history.”

Pittman writes that the HEROES Act — the law that provides financial assistance to military personnel and that the Biden administration relied on to enact the relief plan — does not approve the program.