An advocacy group for small businesses filed a new lawsuit seeking to block President Joe Biden‘s efforts to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of people across the United States in just the latest challenge amid a flurry of litigation action against the program.
The conservative Job Creators Network Foundation filed its lawsuit Monday, arguing the Biden administration violated federal procedures by not seeking public input about the program. The new suit joins other litigation filed by Republican lawmakers and other libertarian interest groups as the Biden administration attempts to lock in its plan to cancel billions in debt before the November midterm elections.
Elaine Parker, president of the Job Creators Network Foundation, rebuked the loan forgiveness program as an executive overreach in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“The administration’s action does nothing to address the root cause of unaffordable tuition: greedy and bloated colleges that raise tuition far more than inflation year after year while sitting on $700 billion in endowments,” Parker said.
JUDGE DISMISSES WISCONSIN CHALLENGE TO STUDENT LOAN CANCELLATIONS OVER STANDING
The filing includes two plaintiffs, one who does not qualify for debt forgiveness and another who is ineligible for the full $20,000 debt forgiveness since he didn’t receive a Pell grant, according to court records.
Parker alleged there were unfair benefits to universities under Biden’s program, complaining that “colleges escape responsibility for their actions creating the student loan crisis.”
“They are given carte blanche to continue their ridiculous pricing. Bailing out this debt only kicks this problem down the road,” Parker added, implying the loan forgiveness plan would cause college tuition costs to soar even higher.
The new suit is one of a growing number of legal challenges against the proposal laid out by Biden in late August to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for certain borrowers, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates could cost as much as $400 billion.
Pacific Legal Foundation, a libertarian group that filed the first major lawsuit against Biden’s plan, amended its lawsuit on Monday after a judge previously ruled plaintiffs in that case lacked standing.
PLF’s plaintiff, Ben Garrison, previously alleged he would be subject to an unwarranted tax bill because the Department of Education’s guidance signaled that he would be among a group of 8 million borrowers to receive “automatic” forgiveness once Biden’s plan was set in motion.
Since then, the DOE has quietly amended its policy to allow Garrison to opt out of the loan forgiveness, as well as amending the policy in response to additional lawsuits. But attorneys for PLF still believe their client has standing.
The amended lawsuit notes that “members of the putative class also face imminent cancellation if they fail to opt out of the [Education Department’s] policy, even if they lack notice of the cancellation policy.”
Michael Poon, an attorney for PLF, wrote in a Fox News op-ed on Monday that the decision by the DOE to quietly alter its loan forgiveness plan was an “obvious attempt to end … cases without having to defend the legality of its policy, doubtless because the loan cancellation program is blatantly unlawful.”
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The latest lawsuits against the tuition forgiveness plan come just days after Wisconsin-based Judge William Griesbach dismissed a lawsuit from a local taxpayers’ group that sought to block the program. The group argued Biden’s plan unlawfully circumvented Congress’s power over spending and that it was discriminatory because it sought to offer particular help to borrowers of color. The judge ultimately found the group lacked standing for the challenge.
The Biden debt forgiveness program will cancel $10,000 in student debt for individuals making less than $125,000 a year or households making less than $250,000. Pell grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, will be eligible for up to $20,000 in forgiveness.
