An appeals court has blocked the implementation of President Joe Biden's SAVE student loan forgiveness plan while it considers the merits of a lawsuit by conservative states against the initiative.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals was responding to a lawsuit against SAVE by Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma.
The suit argued that the Biden administration was "trying to impose an extraordinarily expensive and controversial policy" with the loan forgiveness and income-driven repayment options.
Federal judges in Kansas and Missouri had already blocked parts of the plan temporarily in June as other suits take place.
A total of $168.5 billion has so far been forgiven for 4.76 million borrowers.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told Axios in an emailed statement on Thursday that the borrowers impacted by the block would have their loans placed on an interest-free forbearance until the courts make a final decision on the plan.
Borrowers will be notified of the change, he said.
"Our administration will continue to aggressively defend the SAVE Plan," a spokesperson for the administration said.
On the same day the injunction was handed down, Biden canceled another $1.2 billion in loan debt for 35,000 public service workers using the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which it overhauled.
The program allows firefighters, teachers, police, and employees of nonprofits to get their loans forgiven after making 10 years of payments.
Before this addition, 946,000 borrowers have had $69.2 billion forgiven through the program.
Prior to Biden's election, only 7,000 borrowers had received forgiveness in the 13 years the program was in place.
Republicans have accused Biden of buying votes with student loan forgiveness programs, and have criticized them for shifting the student loan costs to taxpayers, some of whom have not attended college, had not taken student loans, or had paid off their balances before debt forgiveness was available.
A Wall Street Journal editorial in April noted that "the best way to buy votes is with other people's money," and the Biden administration is doing exactly that with the money you and I pay in taxes.
