Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Is Unconstitutional, Says Federal Judge | Reason - Elizabeth Nolan Brown:
November 11, 2022 - "A federal judge has ruled unconstitutional President Joe Biden's plan to forgive student loan debt. In a decision issued yesterday, U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman ruled in favor of plaintiffs Myra Brown and Alexander Taylor. Brown has student loans but is entirely ineligible for Biden's forgiveness program because her loans are privately held. Taylor has loans but is ineligible for the full $20,000 in debt relief. The Job Creators Network Foundation sued on their behalf, arguing that Biden's bailout plan violated the Administrative Procedure Act (which requires a period of public comment) and that the Department of Education lacks the authority to implement the program.
"Pittman found that the program did not violate administrative procedure. Instead, he found that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 ("HEROES Act") — which Biden used to justify his move — does not actually 'provide the executive branch clear congressional authorization to create a $400 billion student loan forgiveness program.' Bident's student debt relief plan 'is thus an unconstitutional exercise of Congress's legislative power and must be vacated.' 'In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone,' Pittman wrote in his decision....
"In a statement yesterday, Job Creators Network Foundation President Elaine Parker said Biden's bailout 'would have done nothing to address the root cause of unaffordable tuition: greedy and bloated colleges that raise tuition far more than inflation year after year while sitting on $700 billion in endowments. We hope that the court's decision today will lay the groundwork for real solutions to the student loan crisis'....
"The Department of Justice has filed an appeal, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said yesterday. More than 26 million people have already applied for student loan forgiveness, she said, and the Biden administration will keep their information 'so it can quickly process their relief once we prevail in court.'
"The Job Creators Network Foundation suit is one of several cases challenging the program. These include a lawsuit from six Republican-led states and one from the Cato Institute. 'Cato's suit joins at least six others, with plaintiffs making various claims of harm,' noted Neal McCluskey, director of Cato's Center for Educational Freedom, in a blog post. 'The ultimate aim of all the suits, though, is the same: To stop a move that is not only patently unconstitutional, but will inflict many painful costs on society.'
"'The constitutional issue is straightforward: The Constitution gives the power of the purse to Congress, but in declaring that it would forgive up to $20,000 in loans for households making below $250,000 a year, the Biden administration essentially created about $400 billion in new spending,' McCluskey wrote late last month."
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