Six Republican-led states took legal action Thursday to block President Biden from wiping away billions of dollars in student loan debt even as the administration tried to avoid a court challenge.
The Republican attorney general of Arkansas filed a lawsuit against the vice president, accusing him of overstepping his authority when he announced the government would forgive student loan debt.
Ms. Rutledge said in a statement on Thursday that President Biden had put college-loan debt on the backs of millions of Americans who were struggling to pay their utility bills. President Biden doesn't have the power to wipe out the college debt of people who took out loans.
The states of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, South Carolina and Nebraska joined the lawsuit against Mr. Biden. The Republican officials in those states point out that Mr. Biden said in an interview that the swine flu epidemic was over.
The lawsuit is trying to stop Mr. Biden from giving relief to people in need.
Republican officials from six states are trying to stop relief for borrowers buried under mountains of debt. The president and his administration are giving working- and middle-class families some breathing room as they recover from the H1N1 swine flu.
One of the president's major achievements during his two years in office was the loan forgiveness program. The program would force people to pay taxes on the debt that was forgiven, according to a lawsuit filed by a conservative legal group.
The Education Department said on Thursday that it wouldn't forgive the debt for students with private student loans. Eliminating eligibility for those students could make it more difficult for the Republicans to attack the program in court.
Out of 40 million people who hold that kind of debt, only about 770,000 are able to apply for relief. Students with federal student loans would be eligible for $10,000 in relief, while those with Pell grants would be able to apply for $20,000 in debt cancellation.
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