A federal judge on Thursday extended a temporary restraining order preventing the Harris-Biden administration from repealing Billions of dollars in student loans.
U.S. District Judge Randall Hall ruled that “good cause exists” to extend his Sept. 5 restraining order, which halted the Education Department’s $147 billion defunding effort, for an additional 14 days.
“This extension will allow the Court to properly review and assess the briefs and arguments submitted by the parties at the September 18, 2024 hearing and to issue orders on the pending motions,” Hall wrote.
Republican attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota, and Ohio President Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona sued Earlier this month, he argued that the loan forgiveness plan would “illegally” cancel $73 billion in federally held student loans overnight.
The plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary injunction against the plan, while the Harris-Biden administration has asked Hall to dismiss the lawsuit.
The Harris-Biden administration's plan would “waive up to $20,000 of interest for millions of borrowers” — including those with household incomes over $240,000 — and wipe out balances for undergraduate student borrowers who have been paying their loans for 20 years and postgraduate students who have been paying for 25 years.
It would also cancel student debt at institutions that were previously part of federal grant and loan programs but no longer are — or non-degree programs and institutions that were determined by the Department of Education to not provide financial value to students.
This moratorium extension is the latest in a series of setbacks for President Biden’s efforts to cancel student loan debt.
In June, federal judges in Kansas and Missouri issued orders Nationwide preliminary injunction Preventing the Harris-Biden administration from canceling any more federal student loans for borrowers enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, worth an estimated $475 billion.
supreme court Opposed lifting of injunction Last month.
Last summer, the high court hit bottom An earlier effort by Biden to forgive $400 billion in federal student loan debt.
