WASHINGTON — A small-business advocacy group has filed a new lawsuit seeking to block the Biden administration’s efforts to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans — the latest legal challenge to the program.
The suit, filed Monday by the Job Creators Network Foundation, argues the Biden administration violated federal procedures by failing to seek public input on the program.
Elaine Parker, president of Job Creators Network Foundation, slammed the program as executive overreach and complained that it does nothing to address the root cause of rising debt: the “outrageous increase in college tuition that outpaces inflation every single year.”
She added: “These universities need to be held accountable for this student debt crisis.”
The Job Creators Network Foundation has previously turned to the courts to try to block the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on businesses. It also sued Major League Baseball in 2021 for moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta over objections to changes to Georgia’s voting laws. That lawsuit, which cited losses to local businesses, was later dropped.
The new lawsuit is one of a growing number of legal challenges trying to halt the proposal laid out by President Joe Biden in late August to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for certain borrowers.
Six Republican-led states filed suit late last month, accusing the Biden administration of overstepping its executive powers, as did the Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento, Calif., legal advocacy group. Their lawsuit, filed in federal court in Indiana, calls the plan an illegal overreach that would increase state tax burdens for some Americans who get their debt forgiven.
The latest lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against the U.S. Education Department and its secretary, Miguel Cardona, takes issue with how the plan was developed. It alleges the Biden administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act’s notice-and-comment procedures.
The suit includes two plaintiffs: one who does not qualify for debt forgiveness because the plan excludes commercially held loans that are not in default, and one who did not receive a Pell Grant and is therefore entitled to less debt forgiveness under the plan.
The Biden debt forgiveness program will cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for individuals making less than $125,000 a year or households making less than $250,000. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, will be eligible for an additional $10,000.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the program will cost taxpayers $400 billion over the next three decades.