Biden misses on student loan forgiveness — again | COMMENTARY | Letters

President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will not seek re-election raises questions about his priorities as he finishes his term. Student loan forgiveness remains on top of his list.

A few weeks ago, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, which would have canceled billions in student debt for American students. In response to the court’s ruling, the Department of Education announced that millions of borrowers will be put into forbearance while SAVE is being litigated.

This is the second time Biden’s plan has been found unconstitutional because of administrative agencies overstepping their statutory limits. But Biden continues to abuse administrative agencies’ rulemaking power to dictate policy. The president did this purposely — he wants to blame the judiciary for the lack of student debt relief instead of acknowledging that student loan forgiveness is unpopular and politically infeasible. Moreover, he is trying to preserve the issue so Vice President Kamala Harris can campaign on it and court young voters.

Student loan cancellation was one of Biden’s primary campaign promises in 2020 to attract young voters’ support. Once in office, the secretary of education used the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act (HEROES Act) to forgive student loans in 2022. The Supreme Court struck this down in 2023, holding in Biden v. Nebraska that the HEROES Act did not empower the education secretary to cancel student debt and rebuked him for overstepping the statute’s limits.

Biden probably would find a legislative solution to student debt cancellation. So why did he try — again — to cancel billions of dollars in student debt by resorting to administrative rulemaking?

He must have known that states would sue, arguing that the final rule canceling debt was unconstitutional because of a lack of statutory authority. The District Court found this before the case arrived at the 8th Circuit: “Congress has made it clear under what circumstances loan forgiveness is permitted, and the (income contingent repayment) plan is not one of those circumstances.”

Biden continues to pursue an administrative remedy because loan forgiveness is unpopular; 76 percent of Americans oppose it. Biden couldn’t find consensus on the issue in his own party. Multiple Democrats in the House opposed the initial cancellation plan.

Biden continued down this road to avoid backlash from young voters who propelled him to victory in 2020 and preserve the issue for Harris. The vice president needs these voters, and getting their votes is easier if loan cancellation is in play.

It’s also politically expedient for Biden to blame everyone except himself for a lack of relief. This was shown when Biden attacked the Supreme Court after it decided Biden v. Nebraska. This occurred again when Republicans won control of the House. Instead of working with the GOP and crafting a bipartisan sensible debt relief plan, Biden chose to sidestep Congress by enacting SAVE.

If Biden wanted to cancel student debt, he would’ve proposed legislation during unified government or he would have worked across the aisle to form a common-sense pragmatic plan. Instead, Biden chose to dictate policy via rulemaking and blame the judiciary for his shortcomings. In the future, any administration serious about debt forgiveness should pursue a legislative solution over an administrative one.

Ryan Silverstein is a fellow with Villanova University’s McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.