Biden vows ‘the fight is not over’ after Supreme Court strikes down student loan relief
Christian Datoc
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President Joe Biden criticized Republicans and vowed to take additional action to extend relief to borrowers after the Supreme Court ruled his student loan debt program unconstitutional.
The court voted 6-3 in opposition to the president’s plan, which would forgive an estimated $400 billion in student loans. The decision comes ahead of the end of a three-year pause on student loan payments due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Six Republican states sued the administration over the program, and in a statement responding to Friday’s ruling, Biden accused Republicans of hypocrisy for backing pandemic loan forgiveness for businesses while opposing relief for student borrowers.
“The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning. They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses — including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses,” he wrote. “And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.”
Biden urged the public not to “lose sight of the progress we’ve made” in light of the ruling, which includes increasing Pell grants, wide-scale loan forgiveness for teachers, firefighters, and other essential workers, and restructuring debt repayment plans.
“I believe that the Court’s decision to strike down our student debt relief plan is wrong,” the president concluded. “But I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families. My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American.”
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Earlier in his term, the president had urged Congress to pass a bill forgiving student loan debt and had expressed doubts about his executive authority to wipe out debt.
Biden is slated to deliver remarks and announce his next plan of action Friday afternoon at the White House.
This is a developing story and will be updated.