In a big win for student loan debtors, a federal judge has ruled that the Biden Harris administration can move forward with its new student loan forgiveness plan. This is huge. This decision could provide relief to millions of borrowers at a time when people could use some extra bucks for everyday needs.
Okay, so U.S. District Judge Randal Hall, appointed by former President George W. Bush, allowed a temporary restraining order against the plan to expire on Wednesday, delivering a legal victory for President Joe Biden just weeks before the November election.
According to estimates from the Center for American Progress, the plan’s scope is projected to benefit up to three-quarters of federal student loan holders when combined with previous debt relief efforts.
Get this: the long-awaited ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed by seven Republican-led states—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota, and Ohio—that argued the U.S. Department of Education’s debt cancellation initiative is unlawful. However, Judge Hall found that Georgia lacked the legal standing to challenge the plan, meaning the state could not serve as the venue for the case. Hall ordered the case to be transferred to Missouri, as the states claimed the plan would most impact Mohela, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority.
Following the ruling, the GOP-led states asked a federal judge in Missouri to block the plan. Why? Of course, their job is to obstruct anything that can help Americans, not govern this country, especially while their embattled leader, 34-time felon Donald Trump, vies to return to the White House.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Education expressed its satisfaction with Judge Hall’s ruling, stating that Georgia had “no legal basis” for the lawsuit, but criticized Republican officials’ ongoing efforts to halt the debt relief program.
“The fact remains that this lawsuit reflects an ongoing effort by Republican elected officials who want to prevent millions of their own constituents from getting breathing room on their student loans,” a Department spokesperson said. “We will not stop fighting to fix the broken student loan system and provide support and relief to borrowers across the country.”
Just to highlight who qualifies, Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan targets four groups of borrowers: those who owe more than they initially borrowed, people who have been repaying their loans for decades, students from schools with low financial value, and borrowers who qualify for existing loan forgiveness programs but have not yet applied.