The Biden administration has stopped taking applications for student loan borrowers to apply for debt forgiveness following a Texas court order blocking the program.
“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,” a message read on its website.
A day prior, a federal judge in Texas, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman, issued a 26-page decision, calling President Joe Biden’s plan “unconstitutional,” and must be “vacated.”
“In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone,” the judge wrote, adding “in this case, the HEROES Act — a law to provide loan assistance to military personnel defending our nation — does not provide the executive branch clear congressional authorization to create a $400 billion student loan forgiveness program.”
Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative advocacy group, is the one who brought the lawsuit to court against the Biden Administration, calling the program “irrational, arbitrary, and unfair,” accusing Biden of overreaching his presidential powers.
In response, the Biden administration said that they are appealing the judge’s decision, claiming it is lawful.
“We believe strongly that the Biden-Harris Student Debt Relief Plan is lawful and necessary to give borrowers and working families breathing room as they recover from the pandemic and to ensure they succeed when repayment restarts,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
“For the 26 million borrowers who have already given the Department of Education the necessary information to be considered for debt relief- 16 million of whom have already been approved for relief- the Department will hold onto their information so it can quickly process their relief once we prevail in court,” the statement continues.
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