President Joe Biden’s administration is being sued for its decision to forgive student loans, according to The Conserative Brief.
The Pacific Legal Foundation filed the lawsuit on Tuesday to support its proposal to forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for millions of borrowers.
“Congress did not authorize the executive branch to unilaterally cancel student debt,” Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Caleb Kruckenberg said.
“It’s flagrantly illegal for the executive branch to create a $500 billion program by press release, and without statutory authority or even the basic notice and comment procedure for new regulations.”
“In August 2022, President Biden announced his plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt per person for more than 40 million Americans,” the attorney went on.
The Department of Education’s justification relies on an inapplicable, 20-year-old law: The HEROES Act, which was intended as aid to veterans and their families, allows the government to modify student loans during times of war or national emergency,” the press release said.
“Whatever the motives of the president for transferring massive amounts of student debt to taxpayers in a rushed, haphazard manner, it certainly seems like an election-year ploy,” the statement went on.
“That is one of the predictable effects of the president usurping Congress’s power to make law. Not since President Trump imposed a nationwide eviction moratorium before the 2020 elections have a president abused his power so profoundly,” it said.
“Cancelling student debt is unjust to those who have paid their loans or never took any. It will only lead to more calls for government intervention in education at taxpayers’ expense,” senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation Steve Simpson said.
“Loan cancellation will make Americans more divided, as those who paid their loans—or never went to college—will have good reason to think that we no longer have a government of, by, and for the people.”
The student-loan forgiveness application site officially went live on Monday, in the inturum.
“After conducting beta testing over the weekend, President Joe Biden — alongside Education Secretary Miguel Cardona — announced that the application website is officially live, and borrowers can apply for up to $20,000 in debt relief that will start being processed by the Education Department. During his remarks, Biden noted that over 8 million borrowers applied over the weekend without a glitch or any difficulty,” Business Insider reported.