The Supreme Court struck down President Biden‘s student debt forgiveness plan, which would have cancelled up to $20,000 in loan debt for eligible borrowers, on the final day of the term Friday. Biden shortly after said in a statement that “this fight is not over.”
In remarks Friday afternoon, Biden touted other policies he said have helped student borrowers and laid out further plans he said are consistent with the Supreme Court ruling.
Biden said he’d ground the next effort in the Higher Education Act, which he said will allow the administration to “compromise, weigh or release loans under certain circumstances.” Biden said “it’s gonna take longer, but in my view, it’s the best path that remains[.]”
Biden also said the Department of Education won’t refer borrowers with missed payments to credit agencies for one year, calling this a temporary “on-ramp repayment program.”
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority earlier Friday that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act, which the administration said justified its forgiveness program, allows the Education secretary “to ‘waive or modify’ existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up.”
Learn more about the Supreme Court decision here.
Biden first announced the plan in August of last year. In addition to court challenges, it faced pushback in Congress, which passed a measure to overturn the plan earlier this month. Biden vetoed the measure.
Biden on Friday also railed against Republicans who opposed the debt forgiveness program.
In response to a reporter’s question whether he gave borrowers false hope with his initial debt relief plan, Biden punted the blame back to Republicans.
“I didn’t give borrowers false hope. But Republicans snatched away the hope they were given, and it’s real. Real hope,” he replied.
