President Biden announced that $10,000 of federal student loans will be forgiven using the authority Congress gave the Department of Education. Students who are from low-income families that allowed them to be eligible for a Pell Grant will see their debt reduced by $20,000
Biden’s problem is that Congress has never given the president or the Department of Education permission to unilaterally forgive student loan debts exceeding $400 billion.
A Texas U.S. District Court recently ruled that the Constitution gives Congress ‘all legislative power’. However, this power can be delegated by the executive branch. If the executive branch wants to use this delegated power in order to create a law with great economic and political importance, it must be authorized by Congress. The executive branch cannot exercise the ‘legislative power’ granted to it by Congress if it doesn’t. The HEROES Act, a law that provides loan assistance for military personnel defending the nation, does not give the executive branch the authorization of Congress to create a $400 million student loan forgiveness program. This Program is therefore an unconstitutional exercise by Congress’s legislative power, and must be repealed.”
The federal judge declared Biden’s plan for student loan forgiveness illegal because it violated the Administrative Procedure Act. This is because the Constitution gives Congress the power to the purse, and not the executive branch. In addition, the judge ruled that Biden’s administration had flagrantly violated the Administrative Procedure Act by not allowing the public comment to be made before making the decision.
After the Texas ruling, an even more stinging rebuke of Biden’s student loan forgiveness program by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals followed. A three-judge panel issued a nationwide order preventing the administration’s debt forgiveness plan from proceeding.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals stated that “We GRANT Emergency Motion for Injunction Pending Appeal.” The injunction will continue in force until any further order of this court, or the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Biden administration didn’t welcome the new rulings with open arms, as one might expect.
“We are confident that we have the legal authority to approve the student debt relief program, and believe it is necessary for borrowers most in crisis as they recover from this pandemic,” stated Karine Jean-Pierre, White House Press Secretary.
She said, “The administration…will never stop fighting for working-class Americans.”
Someone needs to inform the White House Press Secretary about the fact that the administration’s erroneous decision to forgive student loans would harm working- and middle-class Americans, while greatly benefitting the rich.
Lindsey Burke is the director of The Heritage Foundation’s center for education policy. She recently wrote:
“Working-class and middle-class Americans should not have to repay student loans to others. It will make working Americans less likely to be able to afford college educations of people who are statistically more likely than average to earn more over their lives simply because they have a college degree. This is completely unfair and a sign of how special interests are being put ahead of the working people.”
Biden’s bailout plan, which includes this author, is also a complete slap in our faces to all of those who have paid back student loans. It is also unfair to the millions upon millions of young Americans who chose to skip college to avoid huge debt accumulation.
It appears that Biden’s plan to forgive student loans is now dead, at least temporarily. The case will eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court. It is expected that the court will declare the plan unconstitutional.
The Court might use Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker of the House, to make its final decision. Pelosi acknowledged that “people think the President of the United States is able to forgive the debt.” He does not. He has no power to postpone or delay. This must be an act by Congress.
Oder, the Court could quote Biden’s words. He falsely claimed that his plan to forgive student loans was “passed by one or two votes” in Congress.
We all know that there was never a vote in Congress on this issue. It is now a fact that the House of Representatives was won by the GOP in the midterm elections. This means that there will not be a vote on the matter for the next two years.
It is enough to say that President Biden’s inept approach was ineffective in the short term. It is possible that the issue will continue to be a problem, despite the fact that many young Americans voted blue in 2022.
