Biden Administration’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Allowed To Proceed After Legal Win

President Joe Biden and his administration have fought continuously throughout his term to provide student loan debt relief. Though the plan has been blocked several times, they just secured a crucial legal win.

Just weeks ahead of the presidential election, on Wednesday (Oct. 3), a judge let a temporary restraining order on Biden’s student loan forgiveness program expire, allowing the plan to proceed, per NBC. The lawsuit was brought against Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in September by seven GOP-led states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota, and Ohio. The suit argued the administration illegally instructed loan servicers to begin forgiving debt before the rule was actually finalized. 

However, U.S. District Judge Randall Hall wrote in his order that Georgia — the state the suit was filed in — lacks standing to challenge the plan “because it failed to show an injury that is concrete, particularized, actual, or imminent.”

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“Today’s legal decision is a small victory for democracy. This case by the Missouri AG is as absurd as it is dangerous. The Biden-Harris Administration’s Plan B is both legal and necessary to bring vital relief to over 30 million Americans trapped in a cycle of unaffordable debt,” the Student Borrower Protection Center nonprofit said in a statement.

Now that the program is clear to move forward, borrowers who would have their loans partially or fully forgiven include these following groups, according to Forbes: borrowers whose debt exceeds the amount they initially borrowed after interest; those with loans older than 20 or 25 years; those who attended career-training programs that resulted in high debt or low earnings; and those who are eligible for forgiveness programs but never applied.

The outlet also states the plan “would ultimately forgive student loan debt for more than 25 million Americans three months before he leaves office.”

Back in July, Joe Biden made the shocking announcement that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. With only a few months until the election at the time, he endorsed his VP, Kamala Harris, who has since accepted the nomination and went full steam ahead to campaign for votes.

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