President Biden has quickly pivoted to Plan B after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his student-loan forgiveness plan.

Mr. Biden announced Friday that he’ll enact a different student debt-relief program under a 1965 law, the Higher Education Act. Democrats including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York had been repeatedly urging Mr. Biden to turn to the Higher Education Act if the Supreme Court killed his student loan relief plan.

“Today’s decision has closed one path. Now we’re going to pursue another,” Mr. Biden said of the Supreme Court ruling in remarks from the White House. “We will use every tool at our disposal to get you the student debt relief you need and reach your dreams.”

Mr. Biden had centered his debt forgiveness plan around the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities Act, which requires the existence of an emergency crisis situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic to cancel student loan debt.

The Higher Education Act requires no such conditions and has been used to cancel student debt in limited cases.

Last year, the Department of Education forgave $6 billion in loans for defrauded students. In 2019, former President Trump used it to eliminate student loan debt for 25,000 disabled veterans.

However, there are no assurances that invoking the Higher Education Act won’t meet the same fate as Mr. Biden’s previous plan. In his 6-3 opinion Friday, Supreme Court Justice John G. Roberts Jr. noted the constraints of the Higher Education Act, which he said only applied to some public servants, borrowers who have died or become disabled, borrowers who are bankrupt, or those who have been defrauded.

Still, Mr. Biden said Friday that his new path forward is “legally sound” and “the best path forward.”

“We’re not going to waste any time on this. We’re going to be moving and it’s going to take longer but we are getting to it right away,” he said.

The reason the Higher Education Act could be time-consuming is because it requires a lengthy rule-making process and comment period that could take roughly a year, delaying any potential relief until at least 2024. Litigation by those opposed to the program could drag things out even longer.

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.