Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan hits snag after winning streak

A federal appeals court has sided with six Republican-led states to temporarily block President Joe Biden‘s student loan debt relief program.

Attorneys representing Arkansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina filed an emergency motion on Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, one day after a federal district judge ruled that the states’ lawsuit lacked standing.

While the program had previously withstood Republican-led court challenges, the appeals court agreed on Friday to temporarily stop the Biden administration from discharging any debt until a ruling on an injunction challenging the legality of the program is completed.

Biden’s program would provide up to $20,000 in loan debt relief to over 40 million Americans who earn less than $125,000 per year. The president said during a speech at Delaware State University on Friday that 22 million borrowers had already applied to the program, calling the plan a “game changer” for those struggling with their debt.

Republicans have framed the program as an unfair government handout, claiming that it unjustly forces those who did not attend college or already paid off their loans to pay for the debt relief of others. The Congressional Budget Office estimated last month that the program could cost up to $400 billion. Borrowers in the states that sued have a combined estimated $104.1 billion in outstanding debt, according to the Education Data Initiative.

Biden blasted Republican criticism of the program during his speech on Friday, saying that their efforts to “do everything they can to deny this relief” was “hypocritical and wrong.” The president also argued that the courts were on his side and would not ultimately block the program.

“You know, they’ve been fighting us in the courts,” Biden said. “But just yesterday, a state court and the Supreme Court said, ‘No, we’re on Biden’s side.’ I will never apologize for helping working- and middle-class Americans.”

“I don’t want to hear it from MAGA Republican officials, who had hundreds of thousands of dollars of debts—even millions of dollars—in pandemic relief loans forgiven, who now are attacking me for helping working-class and middle-class Americans,” he added.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.