JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The U.S. Supreme Court overturned President Joe Biden’s $400 billion plan Friday to cancel or reduce federal student loan debts for millions of Americans.
Two Missouri officials, both Republicans, are taking credit for the latest developments. Former Attorney General turned U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt and current Attorney General Andrew Bailey say Missouri’s action was pivotal to killing the plan.
Schmitt served as Attorney General through early-January 2023, challenging Biden’s student loan plan with a lawsuit months before he was elected as a U.S. senator. Schmitt claims he was the first in the country to file a lawsuit on the matter.
“When I was Missouri’s Attorney General, I filed this critical lawsuit,” said Schmitt in a statement to FOX 2. “I’m pleased to see the Supreme Court side with the plaintiff states and strike down Biden’s student loan debt bailout.”
Last year, a federal judge dismissed an effort involving Schmitt and six other attorneys general to block the student loan plan. Schmitt and others cited “irreparable harm” to student loan agencies in Missouri and beyond.
With the Supreme Court overturning the plan, the ruling contends that Missouri’s Higher Education Loan Authority suffered a “direct injury” in the performance of its public function to Missouri.
“Joe Biden’s student loan bailout was nothing more than a thinly veiled political ploy on a shaky foundation to score cheap points,” said Schmitt. “The bailout was inherently unfair to those who responsibly paid off their debt or those who chose not to take on debt, and the truck driver or the waitress shouldn’t have to subsidize the theater degree of the tenured professor.”
Schmitt’s successor Andrew Bailey continued to challenge over the student loan plan and says his office “was integral to bringing standing for the states’ challenge.”
“As someone who paid for my education in blood, sweat, and tears in service to my nation, I am extremely pleased with the Court’s ruling today,” said Bailey via Twitter. “The Court recognized that Joe Biden’s plan to force farmers, schoolteachers, and truckers to pay the student loan debts of Ivy League graduates was a gross abuse of power and a slap in the face to every working American who didn’t attend college or who paid off their debts.”
“I’m proud to have led in the fight to halt Biden’s unconstitutional plan in its tracks and to protect everyday Americans from being saddled with the enormous cost of the plan,” Bailey continued.
The Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn Biden’s plan. Conservative justices in the majority said the Biden administration overstepped its authority with the plan. The decision ultimately leaves borrowers on the hook for repayments that are expected to resume in the fall.
The forgiveness program would have canceled $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would have had an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.
Loan repayments will resume in October, although interest will begin accruing in September, according to the Education Department. Payments have been on hold since the start of the coronavirus pandemic more than three years ago.