US Supreme Court nixes Biden's student debt plan
President Joe Biden on Friday condemned a US Supreme Court ruling that blocked his plan to cancel US$430 billion in student loan debt and announced new actions to provide student loan relief in its wake. Biden told reporters at the White House that his administration would pursue student loan relief through the Higher Education Act. In the 6-3 decision earlier Friday, the Supreme Court blocked Biden's plan to cancel US$430 billion in student loan debt. The ruling, which was welcomed by Republicans, was a blow to the Democratic president and threatened to dismantle part of his policy agenda. Biden said he would find another way to make good on his promises to help people struggling with student loan debt. "Today’s decision has closed one path. Now we’re going to start another," Biden told reporters. Progressive voters, who are part of the coalition that helped elect Biden in 2020, long have put pressure on the White House to address student loan debt; the court's decision intensified calls for further action. "The President has more tools to cancel student debt - and he must use them," Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive voice, said on Twitter after the Supreme Court's decision and before Biden spoke. "More than 40 million hard-working Americans are waiting for the help that President Biden promised them, and they expect this administration to throw everything they've got into the fight until they make good on this commitment," Warren said. Progressive House Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urged Biden to use authorities under the Higher Education Act to continue loan forgiveness before payments resume. "We still have the power to cancel and must use it, or we’re looking at an economic crisis for millions of people," she said on Twitter. The White House made clear it would be putting blame on Republicans for stymieing student-loan relief efforts. Biden, in an earlier written statement echoed in his later remarks, blasted Republican elected officials for supporting billions of dollars in pandemic-related loans to businesses. "And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it," he said. Republicans argued that Biden's initial student-loan relief plan was unconstitutional and unfair. “Biden's student loan bailout unfairly punished Americans who already paid off their loans, saved for college, or made a different career choice," Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. "Americans saw right through this desperate vote grab, and we are thankful that the Supreme Court did as well." (Reuters)