Student-loan borrowers who applied for Biden's debt relief shouldn't have to worry about living with 'crushing student loan debt as a result of a court challenge,' the nation's largest labor federation says
President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan is currently paused after two court rulings.
A major labor federation "is extremely disappointed in the partisan legal effort" to stop relief for borrowers.
The White House is reportedly considering extending the current payment pause as the cases play out.
Millions of student loan borrowers are stuck in forgiveness limbo, as President Joe Biden's relief plan remains on ice.
Over the past week, courts handed Biden's student-debt relief plan two major blows. Last Thursday, a federal judge in Texas ruled the loan forgiveness illegal in response to a lawsuit filed by two student-loan borrowers who didn't qualify for the full amount of relief. On Monday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the temporary stay it placed on the relief nearly three weeks ago should remain in place. That decision was in favor of the six Republican-led states who sued the debt relief, arguing it would hurt their states' tax revenues.
The country's largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO, isn't pleased.
"The AFL-CIO is extremely disappointed in the partisan legal effort to shut down the Biden administration's life-changing student loan relief. Borrowers who have filed for forgiveness should not have to wonder if they will once again be forced to live with crushing student loan debt as a result of a court challenge," AFL-CIO director of government affairs Bill Samuel said in a statement. "With the payment pause end date of Dec. 31 rapidly approaching, the AFL-CIO will continue to advocate for the full implementation of the Biden administration's student loan debt cancellation plan."
The AFL-CIO, which represents 12.5 million American workers, was one prominent group in pushing for the initial forgiveness plan to go through. The federation's president, Liz Shuler, called on Biden to cancel student debt in the spring. Now, the administration's plans to do just that have been put on pause.
Advocates have already chimed in, calling for payment pauses to continue past December. Senator Elizabeth Warren slammed the decision from a Texas judge to block relief, saying that they're playing politics "instead of actually following the law."
The White House and Education Department have not commented on whether a further extension of the payment pause is on the table, but The Washington Post reported on Monday that White House aides are discussing an extension past December 31 as Biden's debt relief remains held up in federal courts.
At this point, the 26 million student-loan borrowers who have already submitted their online applications for relief are in legal limbo, waiting to learn if they will have to resume payments with any reduction to their balances. Biden's Justice Department has appealed the rulings, but it's a process that could take months, and during this time the administration is not accepting any new applications.
Still, the Biden administration remains confident the legal battles won't permanently block student-loan forgiveness.
"We believe we're going to prevail in court," Anita Dunn, a senior advisor to Biden, told NBC News on Sunday. "And at that point, we will swiftly move to make sure that the over 26 million people at this point who have — whose information this administration has — that we'll move swiftly for loan forgiveness."
The Trump-appointed judge who blocked Biden's student-loan forgiveness compared the debt relief to a law enabling Hitler
Mark Pittman, a federal judge in Texas, blocked Biden's student-debt relief last week.
In a hearing prior to the ruling, Pittman compared the relief to a law that gave Hitler power.
Some legal experts have criticized the decision, arguing the plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the relief plan in court.
A federal judge who just blocked student-loan forgiveness likened the relief to a law that gave Adolf Hitler absolute power.
On Thursday, Mark Pittman — a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas — struck down President Joe Biden's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loans for federal borrowers making under $125,000 a year, declaring it illegal. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by two student-loan borrowers who sued because they did not qualify for the full amount of debt relief.
But shortly after the ruling, a transcript of the hearing for the lawsuit was made publicly available. The Biden administration used the HEROES Act of 2003 to enact one-time debt cancellation, which gives the Education Secretary the ability to waive or modify student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency, like COVID-19. Replying to that argument, Pittman suggested that allowing loan forgiveness in response to an emergency is similar to a German law that gave Hitler power.
"You know, you could also make the argument that so was the authority given to Hitler after the Reichstag fire," Pittman said. "What is the Court's role if Congress has given away too much of the authority that is supposed to be deemed in that branch under the Constitution? There has to be some sort of recourse, doesn't there?"
The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the German parliament in 1933, weeks after Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Pittman was referring to the Reichstag Fire Decree, which gave Nazis the power to supress and imprison anyone they considered their opponents. That decree was followed by the Enabling Act, which allowed Hitler and his government to directly enact laws without legislative approval. Historians said these laws gave rise to Hitler assuming full power over Germany.
Pittman didn't elaborate on the comparison in the transcript, but some legal experts have criticized Pittman's ruling because they argued the plaintiffs in the case did not have standing to sue. Leah Litman, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Law, wrote on Twitter that the court should never have taken up the case in the first place because the plaintiffs' arguments did not line up.
"At some point, Democrats are going to have to confront this -- and do something about our federal courts," Litman wrote. "Again this is a Trump-appointed judge invalidating student debt cancellation (after likening statutes authorizing debt cancellation to ... the rise of Hitler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)"
Biden's administration filed an appeal to Pittman's decision, which came right before the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled the debt relief should remain paused on Monday, in response to a different lawsuit filed by six Republican-led states who argued the loan forgiveness would hurt their states' tax revenues.
For now, the 26 million borrowers who submitted their applications for debt relief are in legal limbo awaiting a final decision from the courts, and given that the legal processes could take months, the White House is reportedly considering extending the student-loan payment pause again, beyond its current expiration of December 31.
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