A federal judge will let a short lived restraining order expire against the Biden administration's sweeping recent student loan forgiveness plan that would provide relief for tens of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
The plan, combined with the administration's previous efforts, may gain advantage up to a few out of 4 federal student loan holders, based on a study treasure from the Center for American Progress.
U.S. District Judge Randal Hall in Georgia, appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush, delivered the victory for the Biden administration late Wednesday.
The ruling means President Joe Biden can move forward along with his administration's student loan forgiveness plan just weeks before the November election.
The development follows a lawsuit against the help package filed by seven Republican-led states. The states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota and Ohio — said the U.S. Department of Education's recent debt relief effort was illegal.
However, Hall found that Georgia didn’t have standing to sue against the relief plan and couldn’t function venue for the case.
The judge ordered the case moved to Missouri since the states claim Biden's plan would do essentially the most harm to the coed loan servicer Call meor the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority.
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education said it welcomed the judge's decision that Georgia had “no legal basis” to bring the case, but criticized the Republican movement to stop the relief.
“The fact remains that this lawsuit reflects the ongoing efforts of Republican elected officials to prevent millions of their own constituents from getting relief from their student loans,” they said.
“We will not stop fighting to fix the broken student loan system and provide support and relief to borrowers across the country.”
Biden's plan would have student debt forgiven for 4 groups of borrowers: those that owe greater than they originally took on; individuals who have been in repayment for a long time; students from schools with low financial value; and people who qualify for loan forgiveness under an existing program but haven’t yet applied for it.
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