Another legal ruling puts an additional block on President Biden’s student debt forgiveness program. This time, the block has caused the US Department of Education to stop allowing loan borrowers to apply on the student aid portal.
A federal judge in Texas ruled that President Biden’s student debt forgiveness policy goes beyond the authority of the U.S. Education Department and the power of the executive branch.
The lawsuit argues that Biden’s policy excluded people unfairly and should’ve been created with more input from the public.
The Texas ruling has put a major roadblock on student debt forgiveness – with the portal for people to apply on studentaid.gov being closed.
Saying, “Student Loan Debt Relief is blocked. Courts have issued orders blocking our student debt relief program. As a result, at this time, we are not accepting applications. We are seeking to overturn those orders.”
This is the second major legal obstacle that the loan forgiveness program faces.
The first one is currently being looked over by the federal court of appeals. The first roadblock had already put the program on hold; however, loan borrowers were still able to apply on the loan forgiveness portal.
Following Texas’s decision, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona says “We believe that the…debt relief plan is lawful and necessary to give borrowers and working families breathing room.” and that they are “disappointed in the decision of the Texas court to block loan relief moving forward.”
Cardona adds that despite efforts to block the program – they will not stand down.
Currently, more than 26million borrowers have provided the information needed to process their applications for relief.
Cardona says that 16 million applications have been approved and sent to loan servicers to be discharged when allowed by the courts.
