Judge halts further student loan forgiveness under part of Biden's debt relief plan
The order from a federal judge in Missouri temporarily prohibits the Biden administration from forgiving loans under the SAVE plan.
A federal judge on Monday temporarily barred the Education Department from allowing additional loan forgiveness under a key component of President Joe Biden's student debt relief plan.
The judge's order halted the cancellation of federal student loans under the income-driven repayment plan known as SAVE after several states sued over the program.
The Biden administration is "preliminarily enjoined from any further loan forgiveness for borrowers under the Final Rule’s SAVE plan until such time as this Court can decide the case on the merits," U.S. District Judge John A. Ross wrote.
A graduation ceremony at the University of California Los Angeles on June 14, 2019.Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images fileThe SAVE plan came about after the Supreme Court last year rejected the Biden administration’s broader effort to address debt under its pandemic-era relief plan, which aimed to erase up to $20,000 in federal student debt for about 43 million borrowers.
Ross also rejected an effort by the Biden administration to dismiss the case, saying the states that brought the lawsuit had standing and "are likely to succeed on the merits of their argument that the early loan forgiveness provisions ... were promulgated in a manner exceeding the Secretary’s statutory authority," referring to the secretary of education.
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