WASHINGTON: In a double blow to US President Joe Biden from the US Supreme Court after it nixed race-conscious college admissions yesterday, the apex court on Friday struck down his $ 400 billion student loan forgiveness program.
In another 6-3 ruling, the conservative majority court — with three liberal justices dissenting — said Biden’s plan to wipe out debts for 26 million Americans was unconstitutional and an overreach of his executive power.
The ruling is another massive political setback for US President and the Democratic Party, which was going into the 2024 election cycle on the strength of a populist program that allowed millions of students to pause loan payments during the pandemic, and later to forgive $10,000 in debt for individuals earning less than $ 125,000 per year (or for households earning less than $250,000).The loan waiver doubled to $20,000 for low-income families receiving Pell grants, a financial aid package for the relatively poor.
The administration had already approved 16 million applications of the nearly 26 million borrowers who have applied for loan forgiveness.
In all, some 20 million would have emerged with a clean slate in a country where high and rising cost of education has resulted in a $ 1.6 trillion debt owed by 45 million people.
The ruling was met with fury by Democratic lawmakers and many student activists (although some of the more diligent ones who pay back support the judgment), with President Biden himself expected to voice his disapproval later in the day. Asked on Thursday whether the Supreme Court had gone “rogue” in the race admissions case. Biden said “this is not a normal court.”
The issue is now expected to becoming a political lightning rod in the run up to 2024 elections, with the Biden administration likely to use executive means to get around the court ruling.
“Extremists on the Supreme Court have once again substituted politics for the rule of law, but this fight is not over. The president has more tools to #CancelStudentDebt, and he must use them,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, a former law professor, tweeted.
As with the race and college admissions case, Indian-American politicians hewed to party and ideological lines. From Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican Presidential aspirant: We have a bad habit in America of paying people to do the exact opposite of what we want them to do: more $$ to stay at home than to work, more $$ to be a single mother than married, more $$ for those who *fail* to repay loans than those who do. As a matter of policy, this decision helps reverse that trend.
From progressive Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal: The extreme right-wing Supreme Court majority just struck down up to $20,000 in relief for millions of Americans. Let me be clear: @POTUS had the authority to cancel student loan debt. This is a terrible decision and we will fight back.
To the argument by Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn that “210 million Americans do not have student loan debt. Why should these Americans, many of whom did not attend college, pay the bills of those who voluntarily assumed such debt?” supporters of the program responded, “Why should Americans who do not drive pave YOUR roads? Why should Americans w/o tornadoes pay for others’ damages?”
In another 6-3 ruling, the conservative majority court — with three liberal justices dissenting — said Biden’s plan to wipe out debts for 26 million Americans was unconstitutional and an overreach of his executive power.
The ruling is another massive political setback for US President and the Democratic Party, which was going into the 2024 election cycle on the strength of a populist program that allowed millions of students to pause loan payments during the pandemic, and later to forgive $10,000 in debt for individuals earning less than $ 125,000 per year (or for households earning less than $250,000).The loan waiver doubled to $20,000 for low-income families receiving Pell grants, a financial aid package for the relatively poor.
The administration had already approved 16 million applications of the nearly 26 million borrowers who have applied for loan forgiveness.
In all, some 20 million would have emerged with a clean slate in a country where high and rising cost of education has resulted in a $ 1.6 trillion debt owed by 45 million people.
The ruling was met with fury by Democratic lawmakers and many student activists (although some of the more diligent ones who pay back support the judgment), with President Biden himself expected to voice his disapproval later in the day. Asked on Thursday whether the Supreme Court had gone “rogue” in the race admissions case. Biden said “this is not a normal court.”
The issue is now expected to becoming a political lightning rod in the run up to 2024 elections, with the Biden administration likely to use executive means to get around the court ruling.
“Extremists on the Supreme Court have once again substituted politics for the rule of law, but this fight is not over. The president has more tools to #CancelStudentDebt, and he must use them,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, a former law professor, tweeted.
As with the race and college admissions case, Indian-American politicians hewed to party and ideological lines. From Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican Presidential aspirant: We have a bad habit in America of paying people to do the exact opposite of what we want them to do: more $$ to stay at home than to work, more $$ to be a single mother than married, more $$ for those who *fail* to repay loans than those who do. As a matter of policy, this decision helps reverse that trend.
From progressive Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal: The extreme right-wing Supreme Court majority just struck down up to $20,000 in relief for millions of Americans. Let me be clear: @POTUS had the authority to cancel student loan debt. This is a terrible decision and we will fight back.
To the argument by Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn that “210 million Americans do not have student loan debt. Why should these Americans, many of whom did not attend college, pay the bills of those who voluntarily assumed such debt?” supporters of the program responded, “Why should Americans who do not drive pave YOUR roads? Why should Americans w/o tornadoes pay for others’ damages?”
