Supreme Court Nukes Biden’s Unconstitutional $400 Billion Student Loan Bailout; Biden Offers New Student Debt Relief Plan, Lashes Out at GOP After Supreme Court Ruling, and related stories

Supreme Court Nukes Biden’s Unconstitutional $400 Billion Student Loan Bailout:

The Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s plans to offer a taxpayer-funded bailout to millions of student loan borrowers without congressional approval.

In a 6-3 decision handed down at the end of the summer term Friday, the high court ruled President Biden’s plan to forgive $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for other borrowers under a certain income ceiling was unconstitutional. The White House initiative would have cost taxpayers more than $400 billion over 30 years to bail out more than 43 million borrowers.

Six states challenged the president’s student loan program last fall, provoking a preliminary injunction by the Eighth Circuit Court in Biden v. Nebraska. The six justices in the majority on the court ruled the president does not have the power to authorize such a large payout without Congress signing off.

“The question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion. “Our recent decision in West Virginia v. EPA involved similar concerns over the exercise of administrative power.”

In its decision on the EPA case exactly one year ago, the Supreme Court checked the administrative state’s power, ruling that executive agencies don’t have the power to implement rules with wide-ranging effects in excess of their authority established by Congress.

“So too here, where the Secretary of Education claims the authority, on his own, to release 43 million borrowers from their obligations to repay $430 billion in student loans,” Roberts wrote in Friday’s decision. “The Secretary has never previously claimed powers of this magnitude under the HEROES Act. … The Act has been used only once before to waive or modify a provision related to debt cancellation.” —>READ MORE HERE

Biden offers new student debt relief plan, lashes out at GOP after Supreme Court ruling

President Joe Biden vowed Friday to push ahead with a new plan providing student loan relief for millions of borrowers, while blaming Republican “hypocrisy” for triggering the day’s Supreme Court decision that wiped out his original effort.

Biden said his administration had already begun the process of working under the authority of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which he called “the best path that remains to provide as many borrowers as possible with debt relief.”

In the meantime, since student loan-payment requirements are to resume in the fall, the White House is creating an “on ramp” to repayment and implementing ways to ease borrowers’ threat of default if they fall behind over the next year.

The president said the new programs will take longer than his initial effort would have to ease student loan debt.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Biden said borrowers now angry about the court’s decision should blame Republicans. He is trying to stay on the political offensive even as the ruling undermined a key promise to young voters who will be vital to his 2024 reelection campaign.

“These Republican officials just couldn’t bear the thought of providing relief for working class, middle class Americans,” Biden said. “The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning.”

Trying to place staunch opposition to student loan forgiveness on the GOP could allow Biden’s reelection campaign to maintain the issue as one of strength in the short term. But that may ultimately offer little solace to 43 million Americans who benefited from the initial program and will now have to wait for its replacement to take shape. —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to related stories:

The Supreme Court Cancels Biden’s Student Loan Power Grab



Biden reveals ‘new path’ to student debt relief after Supreme Court strikes down president’s plan



Biden pledges new path to student loan relief after judicial setback

Source