The Biden administration's latest effort to forgive student loans for 800,000 borrowers received a cold reception from the president's political rivals, who accused the administration of attempting to defy the Supreme Court.
Last month, the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden's effort to cancel up to $20,000 in federally held student loans for borrowers making less than $125,000. On Friday, the Department of Education said it would be cancelling loans for 800,000 borrowers through an adjustment to the federal income driven repayment program.
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Defense of Freedom Institute president and co-founder Bob Eitel told the Washington Examiner in an interview that the Biden administration's latest action was "an in your face response" to the Supreme Court's ruling.
"Their goal is to use whatever behind the scenes mechanisms that they can decipher to remove borrowers from the student loan roles as much as possible," Eitel said. "They're under tremendous political pressure and pressure from various left wing progressive groups to provide what they consider to be promised student loan relief, and they're going to take any steps necessary to do it, including this one."
House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) called the administration's latest plan "shameful" and blasted President Biden for "ruining our postsecondary education financing system" in a bid to secure votes in the next election.
“Biden’s student loan scam is far from over. From day one, this administration has encouraged borrowers not to repay their loans and has expected taxpayers to foot the bill," Foxx said.
Eitel told the Washington Examiner that he "strongly suspects" that court challenges will emerge against the administration's latest plan, noting that he did not see "the legal basis" for the forgiveness, and expressed doubt that the administration had assessed each borrower's case before granting forgiveness
"I'm skeptical that the department has conducted a review of each of the 800,000 plus borrowers in such a way that there is a record of due diligence," Eitel said.
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The Job Creators Network Foundation, which filed one of the lawsuits against the original student loan forgiveness program, released a statement Friday that indicated the organization is looking at possibly challenging the latest effort in court.
"Biden's latest plan ignores the root of the student loan crisis: unaccountable colleges that have raised tuition at double the rate of inflation over the past generation while sitting on $700 billion in endowments," JCNF president Elaine Parker said. "This plan will only exacerbate the problem by giving a blank check to colleges to overcharge and letting them off the hook for their role in this crisis. JCNF is currently reviewing this plan and weighing its options to fight it.”