Republicans celebrate Supreme Court overturning student loan plan as a ‘victory’ for taxpayers

Republicans are celebrating the Supreme Court’s overturning of President Biden’s student loan plan as a “victory” for taxpayers, while Democrats are calling the Supreme Court “corrupt.”

The court ruled in a 6-3 decision that the arrangement was illegal.

The plan would have wiped out $10,000 in debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 and up to $20,000 for those with Pell Grants. Estimates put the cost at more than $400 billion.

It was challenged by six Republican states and two borrowers who argued that Biden should have sought congressional approval for a plan using significant tax dollars.

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling overturning President Biden’s illegal student loan is a victory for common sense,” said Republican and presidential nominee Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. ‘You take out a loan, you pay it back. This decision frees taxpayers from debts they never signed on for.”

The 6-3 conservative majority court ruling came a day after they decided to reverse affirmative action in universities.

“The Supreme Court has made it very clear over the past two days who they think deserves to go to college,” wrote Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, DN.J., on Twitter.

Freshman Senator Eric Schmitt, who as Missouri Attorney General led the legal battle against the student loan plan, said: “This was fundamentally unfair, illegal and a cynical election ploy by Joe Biden. Working people who paid off their loans or went elsewhere should not have to pay for the unpaid loans of the tenured university professor.’

Senate GOP Whip John Thune suggested in a statement that Biden knew student loan forgiveness would never hold up in court.

President Biden came up with an unserious plan to force 87 percent of Americans who have no student debt to pay the costs of the 13 percent of Americans who do.

“Anyone frustrated by today’s decision should direct their complaints to the White House, where they knew this executive order was likely to be overturned in the courts, but did nothing to meaningfully address exorbitant costs in higher education.” .’

“Tennesseans shouldn’t be forced to pay for elites on the coast to get doctorates in gender studies,” said Senator Marsha Blackburn.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., turned up the heat on Biden for using other tools in his toolbox to continue the fight for student loan forgiveness.

The same Supreme Court that overturned Roe now refuses to follow the plain language of the student loan suspension law. This fight isn’t over yet. The president has more tools to cancel student debt — and he should use them,” she wrote on Twitter.

“More than 40 million hard-working Americans are waiting for the help President Biden has promised them, and they expect this administration to throw everything at it until they fulfill this commitment.”

Chief Justice John Roberts said in the majority opinion that a move “requires Congress to speak clearly before a Secretary of the Department (of education) can unilaterally change large parts of the US economy.” He goes on to say that the HEROES Act, which the Biden administration cited as justification for the plan, actually “does not authorize the Secretary’s plan,” and therefore there was no clear congressional authorization.

Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan has been stalled in a legal battle since November

Millions of Americans have not had to pay back their loans for three and a half years due to a COVID pandemic freeze. Borrowers will have to resume their payments in October and interest will begin to accrue in September.

“43 million Americans,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. “That’s how many people the right-wing partisan Supreme Court judges have just sentenced to years—sometimes lifelong—indebtedness thanks to their own corruption.”

In its ruling, the court quoted words from then-speaker Nancy Pelosi in July 2021: “People think the president of the United States has the power to cancel debts. He does not. He can delay. He can slow down. But he doesn’t have that power. It must be an act of Congress.”

“I agree with her for once!” said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

“The 87 percent of Americans without student loans no longer have to pay for the 13 percent who do,” he said.

For months, Biden’s blueprint for student loans has been at the center of a legal battle involving six Republican-controlled US states and two borrowers.

Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina said he had no legal authority to proceed with the plan without Congressional approval first.

Biden used the post-9/11 HEROES Act as justification for the program. It provides that the Department of Education may grant student debt forgiveness during a national emergency.

In May, the COVID national emergency came to an end in the eyes of the government.

The program has been suspended since November after a federal appeals court in St. Louis issued an injunction suspending applications and disbursements.

That forced the US government to seek the intervention of Supreme Court judges.

According to the Ministry of Education, more than 26 million people have already signed up for the program, with as many as 16 million provisionally approved for debt relief.

Student debt is the second largest form of consumer debt in the US, behind mortgages and other home loans.

rural, 45 million Americans owe $1.6 trillion in borrowed money they used to pay for their college education.