Arizona Attorney General Mark Brunovich filed a lawsuit Thursday to block the Biden administration’s decision to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loans.
Republican Brnovic says Biden acted without congressional approval and that his actions contradict a U.S. Supreme Court decision restraining federal agencies from taking actions not authorized by Congress. His lawsuit targets President Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
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“This massive debt forgiveness program is fundamentally unfair, unconstitutional and unwise,” Brnovic said. “The question Americans should ask is why is college so expensive in the first place?”
President Biden announced that the administration will cancel $10,000 to $20,000 in student loan debt for individuals with annual incomes of less than $125,000 or family incomes of less than $250,000. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that Biden’s plan would cost the government $400 billion, but Brnovic and others said the costs could be much higher.
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Republicans have stressed that Biden’s move will not write off the debt, but rather move it onto the government’s books and make taxpayers the burden of the amount. It has more broadly argued that the new debt assumptions were actions that contributed to the high levels of inflation that have plagued consumers last year.
The White House has said the loan distribution is being funded by deficit reductions that were already on track before the distribution was announced.
Brnovic’s filings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona show that Biden used the COVID pandemic to legally justify his decision to force the government to assume student loan debt. I’m here. But he also noted that Mr. Biden said in an interview earlier this month that “the pandemic is over.”
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“Despite the president’s repeated claims that the pandemic is over, the government still sees the pandemic as a valid pretext for adopting policies that would otherwise be indisputably illegal. ‘, claimed Brnovic. “So here it is. Defendants are using a pandemic that they otherwise admit is over to attempt to carry out the most expensive pen stroke in the history of this country.”
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The filing alleges that Biden exceeded his authority, made arbitrary decisions about the amount of loan relief, and violated the Constitution by ignoring Congress’ right to set spending priorities. It called on the court to declare Mr. Biden’s move a violation and to issue an order barring its enforcement.
Earlier this week, attorneys for the Pacific Legal Foundation sued the Department of Education in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana over the debt forgiveness plan.