(DCWatchdog.com) – After doubling down on their plans to use taxpayer money to influence the election this fall, Joe Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona are facing another lawsuit over their plans to hand out student loan giveaways.
A group of Republican-led states is challenging the federal government’s efforts to reduce or eliminate debt for millions of student loan borrowers.
This week, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, joined by Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota and Ohio, filed a lawsuit accusing Biden and Cardona of trying to “unlawfully…mass cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in loans.”
This latest legal action targets a newly proposed regulation designed to help borrowers who have been left out of current loan forgiveness programs or are struggling with overwhelming debt.
The plan, created through the federal negotiated rulemaking process, is expected to be approved this fall.
However, the attorneys general from these states claim they have obtained documents showing that the Education Department directed federal loan servicers to start canceling loans as early as September 3 or September 7, even before the rule is officially finalized.
The states argue that the government does not have the authority to move forward with such plans.
“This is the third time the Secretary has unlawfully tried to mass cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in loans,” reads the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Brunswick, Georgia. “Courts stopped him the first two times when he tried to do so openly. So now he is trying to do so through cloak and dagger.”
AG Bailey stated, “The Biden-Harris Administration is dedicated to saddling working Americans with Ivy League debt, even if they have to break the law to do it.”
He added, “We successfully halted their first two illegal student loan cancellation schemes; I have no doubt we will secure yet another win to block the third one…”
In June 2023, Republican states convinced the U.S. Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, to block a $430 billion program backed by Biden that would have canceled up to $20,000 in debt per borrower for up to 43 million Americans.
Following this setback, the administration introduced the SAVE plan, which aimed to reduce monthly payments for millions of borrowers and accelerate loan forgiveness for some.
Nevertheless, Republican-led states—Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahoma—managed to get a federal appeals court to issue an injunction against the SAVE plan, arguing it lacked congressional authority.
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