SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Student loan borrowers and advocates rally outside of the Supreme Court on February 28, 2023 in Washington, D.C.
(Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty Images for People's Rally to Cancel Student Debt)
'Long-Delayed Justice': Judge Rejects Right-Wing Effort to Block Student Debt Relief for 800,000+
"The Biden administration needs to actually discharge this debt immediately before more lawsuits or judicial bullsh*t happens," said the Debt Collective.
Aug 15, 2023
A federal judge in Michigan has rejected an effort by a pair of right-wing think tanks to stop the Biden administration from canceling the student debt of roughly 804,000 borrowers who have been making payments on their loans for more than two decades.
In an 18-page decision on Monday, U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington of the Eastern District of Michigan—a George W. Bush appointee—ruled that the Cato Institute and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy lacked standing to challenge the Biden administration's move, which is expected to automatically wipe out close to $40 billion in federal student loan debt—a small fraction of the $1.6 trillion in outstanding federal student loan debt in the U.S.
Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, wrote in response to the ruling that the lawsuit "was the last barrier to debt relief for more than 800,000 people who had been in debt for decades."
"These borrowers were cheated by predatory companies like Navient and failed by gross mismanagement by [the U.S. Department of Education]," Pierce added. "This is long-delayed justice."
As I'm reading this, I'm struck by just how thorough & devastating this opinion is for @CatoInstitute and @MackinacCenter.
This is an opinion by a Republican-appointed judge hand-picked by the plaintiffs.
He can barely hide his disdain for Cato and Mackinac wasting his time. pic.twitter.com/lAEfRai0S0
— Mike Pierce (@millennial_debt) August 14, 2023
The lawsuit by Cato and the Mackinac Center targeted the Biden administration's recently announced changes to the income-driven repayment (IDR) program, which bases monthly student loan payments on borrowers' income and makes borrowers eligible for debt cancellation after around 20 years of qualifying payments.
The program has long been plagued with issues, failing to deliver promised relief for borrowers. A report published last year by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that a tiny percentage of eligible borrowers actually had their debt canceled under the program.
On Monday, President Joe Biden announced that his administration has begun the process of discharging the student loan debt of 804,000 borrowers who have been in repayment for more than 20 years.
"Because of errors and administrative failures of the student loan system that started long before I took office, over 804,000 borrowers never got the credit they earned, and never saw the forgiveness they were promised—even after making payments for decades," Biden said.
The Debt Collective, a group that has implored the Biden administration to use its legal authority to cancel all outstanding federal student loan debt immediately, welcomed the Michigan judge's ruling.
"This is good—but we've seen this playbook before," the debtors' union wrote. "The Biden administration needs to actually discharge this debt immediately before more lawsuits or judicial bullsh*t happens."
The decision comes weeks before federal student loan repayments, which were paused during the Covid-19 pandemic, are set to resume for the first time in over three years.
On September 1, student loan interest will restart, followed by the resumption of payments in October. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has warned that millions of borrowers could struggle to make their payments once the pause is lifted.
The debt ceiling deal that the Biden White House reached with House Republicans in May cemented the end of the student loan payment freeze. Shortly after Biden signed the deal into law, the U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing majority struck down the administration's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for tens of millions of borrowers.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
A federal judge in Michigan has rejected an effort by a pair of right-wing think tanks to stop the Biden administration from canceling the student debt of roughly 804,000 borrowers who have been making payments on their loans for more than two decades.
In an 18-page decision on Monday, U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington of the Eastern District of Michigan—a George W. Bush appointee—ruled that the Cato Institute and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy lacked standing to challenge the Biden administration's move, which is expected to automatically wipe out close to $40 billion in federal student loan debt—a small fraction of the $1.6 trillion in outstanding federal student loan debt in the U.S.
Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, wrote in response to the ruling that the lawsuit "was the last barrier to debt relief for more than 800,000 people who had been in debt for decades."
"These borrowers were cheated by predatory companies like Navient and failed by gross mismanagement by [the U.S. Department of Education]," Pierce added. "This is long-delayed justice."
As I'm reading this, I'm struck by just how thorough & devastating this opinion is for @CatoInstitute and @MackinacCenter.
This is an opinion by a Republican-appointed judge hand-picked by the plaintiffs.
He can barely hide his disdain for Cato and Mackinac wasting his time. pic.twitter.com/lAEfRai0S0
— Mike Pierce (@millennial_debt) August 14, 2023
The lawsuit by Cato and the Mackinac Center targeted the Biden administration's recently announced changes to the income-driven repayment (IDR) program, which bases monthly student loan payments on borrowers' income and makes borrowers eligible for debt cancellation after around 20 years of qualifying payments.
The program has long been plagued with issues, failing to deliver promised relief for borrowers. A report published last year by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that a tiny percentage of eligible borrowers actually had their debt canceled under the program.
On Monday, President Joe Biden announced that his administration has begun the process of discharging the student loan debt of 804,000 borrowers who have been in repayment for more than 20 years.
"Because of errors and administrative failures of the student loan system that started long before I took office, over 804,000 borrowers never got the credit they earned, and never saw the forgiveness they were promised—even after making payments for decades," Biden said.
The Debt Collective, a group that has implored the Biden administration to use its legal authority to cancel all outstanding federal student loan debt immediately, welcomed the Michigan judge's ruling.
"This is good—but we've seen this playbook before," the debtors' union wrote. "The Biden administration needs to actually discharge this debt immediately before more lawsuits or judicial bullsh*t happens."
The decision comes weeks before federal student loan repayments, which were paused during the Covid-19 pandemic, are set to resume for the first time in over three years.
On September 1, student loan interest will restart, followed by the resumption of payments in October. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has warned that millions of borrowers could struggle to make their payments once the pause is lifted.
The debt ceiling deal that the Biden White House reached with House Republicans in May cemented the end of the student loan payment freeze. Shortly after Biden signed the deal into law, the U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing majority struck down the administration's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for tens of millions of borrowers.
A federal judge in Michigan has rejected an effort by a pair of right-wing think tanks to stop the Biden administration from canceling the student debt of roughly 804,000 borrowers who have been making payments on their loans for more than two decades.
In an 18-page decision on Monday, U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington of the Eastern District of Michigan—a George W. Bush appointee—ruled that the Cato Institute and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy lacked standing to challenge the Biden administration's move, which is expected to automatically wipe out close to $40 billion in federal student loan debt—a small fraction of the $1.6 trillion in outstanding federal student loan debt in the U.S.
Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, wrote in response to the ruling that the lawsuit "was the last barrier to debt relief for more than 800,000 people who had been in debt for decades."
"These borrowers were cheated by predatory companies like Navient and failed by gross mismanagement by [the U.S. Department of Education]," Pierce added. "This is long-delayed justice."
As I'm reading this, I'm struck by just how thorough & devastating this opinion is for @CatoInstitute and @MackinacCenter.
This is an opinion by a Republican-appointed judge hand-picked by the plaintiffs.
He can barely hide his disdain for Cato and Mackinac wasting his time. pic.twitter.com/lAEfRai0S0
— Mike Pierce (@millennial_debt) August 14, 2023
The lawsuit by Cato and the Mackinac Center targeted the Biden administration's recently announced changes to the income-driven repayment (IDR) program, which bases monthly student loan payments on borrowers' income and makes borrowers eligible for debt cancellation after around 20 years of qualifying payments.
The program has long been plagued with issues, failing to deliver promised relief for borrowers. A report published last year by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that a tiny percentage of eligible borrowers actually had their debt canceled under the program.
On Monday, President Joe Biden announced that his administration has begun the process of discharging the student loan debt of 804,000 borrowers who have been in repayment for more than 20 years.
"Because of errors and administrative failures of the student loan system that started long before I took office, over 804,000 borrowers never got the credit they earned, and never saw the forgiveness they were promised—even after making payments for decades," Biden said.
The Debt Collective, a group that has implored the Biden administration to use its legal authority to cancel all outstanding federal student loan debt immediately, welcomed the Michigan judge's ruling.
"This is good—but we've seen this playbook before," the debtors' union wrote. "The Biden administration needs to actually discharge this debt immediately before more lawsuits or judicial bullsh*t happens."
The decision comes weeks before federal student loan repayments, which were paused during the Covid-19 pandemic, are set to resume for the first time in over three years.
On September 1, student loan interest will restart, followed by the resumption of payments in October. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has warned that millions of borrowers could struggle to make their payments once the pause is lifted.
The debt ceiling deal that the Biden White House reached with House Republicans in May cemented the end of the student loan payment freeze. Shortly after Biden signed the deal into law, the U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing majority struck down the administration's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for tens of millions of borrowers.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.