A GOP group against student-debt cancellation is looking for someone with 'the standing and the gumption' to sue Biden over his forgiveness plan
Alex Wong/Getty Images
- Debate is swirling over the legality of Biden's $20,000 student-loan forgiveness announcement.
- One conservative group is looking for someone with the "gumption" to go to court over the relief.
- Biden maintains he has the authority to cancel this debt in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The debate over the legality of President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness continues — and some conservative groups are actively looking for a way to challenge it in court.
Last week, Biden announced up to $20,000 in debt cancellation for some federal borrowers making under $125,000 a year — a long-awaited decision after a years-long battle within the administration over whether a president has the legal authority to wipe out debt of that scale.
Ultimately, the White House concluded the authority exists under the HEROES Act of 2003, which gives the Education Secretary the ability to waive or modify student-loan balances in the connection with a national emergency, like COVID-19.
"The legal authority gives the Secretary the ability to make sure that the pandemic and the emergency does not cause a net financial harm to those folks," Bharat Ramamurti, the deputy director of the National Economic Council, said during a press briefing last week.
But some conservative politicians and groups aren't sold. John Malcolm, director of the Meese Center at the Heritage Foundation — a conservative think tank — told The Washington Post that the organization is looking at ways to take Biden's student-loan forgiveness to court.
"The conservative public interest law firms in our network are exploring filing lawsuits against this. They are doing background legal research, trying to find out who might be the most suitable clients for them," Malcolm said. "They have to find a client with the standing and the gumption to take on a lawsuit. There are several groups in our network who are exploring that right now."
Republican attorneys general are pursuing similar routes, and Alfredo Ortiz, CEO of the Job Creators Network — a conservative advocacy group — said in a statement that the organization is "weighing its legal options to block President Biden's illegal student loan bailout."
But, as Insider previously reported, it will be a significant challenge for any of those lawsuits to prevail in court. Abby Shafroth, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, told Insider that it's "very unlikely" any of those groups could prove they suffered an injury resulting from the loan forgiveness. And GOP Sen. Ted Cruz — who has frequently blasted the debt relief — even acknowledged himself that finding someone to win such a lawsuit in court would be difficult.
"The difficulty here is finding a plaintiff who the courts will conclude has standing," Cruz said. "That may prove a real challenge."
It's also possible that student-loan companies that service debt might try to bring legal action against the administration. But Shafroth noted that they would have to prove "concrete injury," which could be difficult depending on the terms of their contracts, and these are also the companies that make their money through working with the federal government.
"Do they want to bite the hand that feeds them?" Shafroth said. While it's uncertain what will come of these legal threats, the administration is still planning to continue implementing its announced relief and plans to roll out an application in early October for federal borrowers to apply for debt cancellation.
Contributer : Business Insider https://ift.tt/Rw4nEXQ
Reviewed by mimisabreena
on
Friday, September 02, 2022
Rating:
No comments:
Post a Comment