Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the Biden administration is “full speed ahead” in preparations to implement a student debt forgiveness program, a day after a federal appeals court suspended the administration’s efforts.
Cardona said video posted on Saturday that the administration was “not deterred” by lawsuits trying to block the bailout program.
In an op-ed published in USA Today on Saturday, Cardona said the Department of Education was “full speed ahead to prepare for the legal implementation” of the program.
“President Biden and this administration will not stop fighting for millions of hardworking students and borrowers across the country, even if elected officials and lawsuits try to stop us,” Cardona wrote. increase. Economic turmoil caused by the pandemic. ”
On Friday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals suspended implementation of the administration’s program while considering appeals from officials in six Republican-led states whose lawsuits against the program were dismissed by federal judges last week.
The ruling comes days after the administration began accepting applications from borrowers to cancel loans of up to $20,000.
Cardona also took aim at claims by six Republican-led states that the administration’s program was illegal. The education secretary said the same Republican attorneys general and officials opposed waiving billions of dollars in pandemic relief loans to state business owners and trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the top-earning companies under Trump. said there wasn’t.
“The only time these elected officials have a problem is when relief comes to working and middle-class Americans,” Cardona wrote.
In response to Friday’s appeals court ruling, White House press secretary Carine Jean-Pierre stressed that the appeals court’s ruling would not prevent borrowers from filing applications for loan forgiveness.
“It is also important to note that this order does not overturn the dismissal of the case by the court of first instance or imply that the case has merit. “We will follow this order and prepare at full speed, and the administration will seek to sue Republican officials and provide relief to Republican families,” she said in a statement. We will continue to fight to stop our efforts to provide
The appeals court’s ruling comes a day after Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett dismissed another lawsuit by a Wisconsin taxpayer group that sought to stop the implementation of Biden’s plan.
In August, the president announced a program that would waive up to $10,000 for borrowers and $20,000 for Pell grant recipients. Anyone earning less than her $125,000 a year or her $250,000 couple filing taxes jointly is eligible.
“An entire generation is currently in unsustainable debt in exchange for at least a college degree,” Biden said in announcing the program, adding, “It’s a very heavy burden. Therefore, even if you graduate, you may not be able to obtain it,” he added. Access to the middle-class life that a college degree once provided. ”
The bipartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the program could cost about $400 billion. As of the end of June, 43 million borrowers held $1.6 trillion in federal student loans.
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