Six states appealed a court ruling on Biden’s student debt relief plan

An appeals court has extended a ruling barring President Joe Biden’s administration from writing off student loan debt while an appeal filed by six states with Republicans in power is pending.

The appeal by the states of Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina argues that Biden’s plan violates the authority of Congress and jeopardizes the states’ future tax revenues and money earned by public entities investing in or servicing student loans.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis issued a court order prohibiting the Department of Education from beginning to write off student loan debt under Biden’s plan to write off the debts of tens of millions of borrowers while the appeal is pending.

Recall that under Biden’s plan, released Aug. 24, the government promised to write off $10,000 in student loan debt for every borrower in the country with incomes up to $125,000 a year.

It also proposed debt forgiveness of up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients – which would affect about 6 million students from low-income families.

After Biden’s plan was announced, several Republican state attorneys general and legal groups filed lawsuits to challenge it, and on Oct. 21 a court temporarily barred the Biden administration from writing off student loan debt.

Circuit Court Judge Henry Autry in St. Louis dismissed the states’ lawsuit Oct. 20 for lack of legal basis for their petition, even though they had made “important and significant arguments against the debt relief plan.”

The states are now trying to appeal the decision.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in September that implementing the president’s plan would write off about $430 billion of the $1.6 trillion in outstanding student debt and that more than 40 million people were eligible for benefits.