While the Biden administration might be staring down the barrel of the end of it's term, students with loans on their degrees can take hope that President Joe Biden is still pushing for at least one of his campaign promises to be solidified.
To have the president's most recent plan to alleviate student loan debt reinstated, the Biden administration rushed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, attempting to keep the campaign promise made four years ago, as The Hill reported.
President Biden's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan would reduce student loan payments for millions of students, but it is now blocked by a lower court judgment because of concerns about the legality of the program.
“The rule is a straightforward exercise of the Department’s express statutory authority to set the parameters of income-contingent repayment plans — just as it has done for three decades,” U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote to the justices.
In the event that the Supreme Court is hesitant to step in on their emergency docket, Prelogar has asked the justices to instead assess the plan's legality on its own merits and move quickly to schedule oral arguments for this coming fall.
Those who are challenging the SAVE Plan were given a Monday afternoon deadline by the court to react.
This stance is reminiscent of the way the Biden administration dealt with opposition to its previous promise to reduce student loans by $10,000 for each borrower.
After agreeing to consider the case fully upon receiving a request for urgent action from the Justice Department, the Supreme Court last year rejected that plan in a 6-3 ideologically-based vote.
Following the ruling by the Supreme Court, the SAVE plan was initially proposed, pushing forward the president's plan to do away with repayment of many loans.
Phase one, which began last fall, increased the income threshold for income protection from 150 percent to 225 percent over the federal poverty criteria and waived interest that had accrued but was not factored into the calculated payments.
Reducing undergraduate loan payments from 10% of discretionary income to 5% and expanding loan forgiveness possibilities for specific groups were to be implemented in the second phase beginning in July.
Over a decade, the SAVE plan is projected to cost $475 billion, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model.
Two groups of Republican state attorneys general have challenged it in court, arguing that Congress has to provide clearer permission due to the high cost.
In the first action, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction against the SAVE Plan until it settles the matter. The seven states involved are Oklahoma, North Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Georgia.
As the case continues, an emergency appeal was filed with the Supreme Court on Tuesday, requesting that they vacate that order. Midway through the second case, the challengers filed an emergency appeal, which the Biden administration encouraged the justices to reject.
