A federal appeals court yesterday blocked President Joe Biden's administration from continuing to implement a new student debt relief plan designed to lower monthly payments for millions of Americans. Via Reuters:
The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request by seven Republican-led states to put on hold parts of the U.S. Department of Education's debt relief plan that had not already been blocked by a lower-court judge.
That ruling last month by U.S. District Judge John Ross in St. Louis had blocked the department from granting further loan forgiveness under the administration's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan but had not blocked all of the plan.
That plan provides more generous terms than past income-based repayment plans, lowering monthly payments for eligible borrowers and allowing those whose original principal balances were $12,000 or less to have their debt forgiven after 10 years.
State attorneys general led by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey subsequently last week asked the 8th Circuit to block the rest of the SAVE Plan. The court did so through a one-page order granting an administrative stay.
These red states won't rest until all of us are as mediocre, poorly paid, and undereducated as they are. Here's a thought: Why not pretend it's a tax cut? Republicans have never seen one they didn't like!
