Biden administration’s centerpiece student loan relief measure paused after Trump-appointed judge rules plan is unconstitutional.

by Erum Salam, The Guardian

Across the US in recent weeks student loan borrowers hoping to have their debts eased have opened their email inboxes to a message from the US secretary of education, Miguel Cardona.

It read in part: “Lawsuits are preventing the US Department of Education from implementing its one-time student loan debt relief program; we are holding your approved application.”

A man holds an CANCEL STUDENT DEBT protest sign in front of the White House on a sunny summer day.

In August of this year, Joe Biden announced he would cancel up to $20,000 of federal student debt for Pell grant recipients and up to $10,000 for other borrowers. In order to qualify for student debt cancellation, borrowers could not earn more than $125,000 annually, or $250,000 for married couples filing taxes jointly.

But Biden’s high-profile effort to relieve student debt has become mired in a flurry of Republican lawsuits threatening its merit and questioning the president’s reach and – perhaps only temporarily – derailing the hopes of millions of borrowers hoping for a little debt relief.

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