Vice President Kamala Harris’s repeated assurances to cover the costs for debt holders faced a setback on Thursday when a federal judge issued a temporary halt on her student loan cancellation plans.
For months, Biden administration officials have been entangled in legal battles with Republican attorneys general challenging the president’s plan to unilaterally cancel billions in unpaid student loans, a move critics have denounced as election-year bribery.
But on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Randal Hall, appointed by George W. Bush, temporarily blocked the implementation of the plan for an additional 14 days.
The ruling complicates Harris’s pledge to address student debt with less than 50 days remaining before the election. Hall announced he would review the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction against the relief plan, according to NBC News.
This is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Biden-Harris administration, which has faced pressure from progressives to take bold action on student debt.
Nationally, borrowers collectively owe $1.74 trillion in student loans, surpassing the $1.1 trillion in national credit card debt. Critics argue that legal debt contracts cannot be erased through executive order and question the fairness of requiring Americans who have already paid off their own loans to subsidize those who have not.
According to NBC, the borrowers are categorized into four groups: those who owe more than their original loan amount, individuals who have been repaying their loans for decades, students from institutions with low financial value, and those eligible for loan forgiveness under existing programs but who have not yet applied.
Republican attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota, and Ohio initially filed a lawsuit challenging President Biden’s order, claiming it was an attempt to bypass a final ruling expected in October.
The administration responded by stating to CNBC that the Department of Education will not proceed with the $147 billion in student loan forgiveness for 25 million Americans until it is legally permitted to do so.
