Cedric Richmond, an adviser to the Democratic National Committee, maintained on Sunday that President Biden had been granted the right to cancel student debts by Congress.
President Biden and even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have said in the past that the executive branch lacks the ability to unilaterally cancel student loans.
People believe that the US president has the authority to forgive debt. He doesn’t,” Pelosi stated in the previous year. He can delay and postpone, but he lacks that ability. That needs to be a congressional act.
Richmond, a former director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, claimed, “Well, Congress acted,” when asked by Fox News what had changed.
It is the same statute that permits him to erase debts between $10,000 and $20,000, according to Richmond. “If you look at the legislation that permitted President Trump and President Biden to suspend loan repayment, it’s the same legislation,” she said.
As progressives have fought for, Biden said last year that he was willing to pardon $10,000 from the White House but did not think he had the ability to forgive $50,000, stating, “I don’t think I have the right to do that by signing a pen.”
Cedric Richmond, a member of the Democratic National Committee, asserted on Sunday that President Biden had been granted the right by Congress to cancel student debts.
President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have both said in the past that the executive branch lacks the ability to unilaterally forgive student debt.
Biden has used the 2003 Heroes Act as the foundation for his legitimacy as a debt forgiver. In times of war or a national emergency, the post-9/11 measure gives the Secretary of Education the authority to suspend or alter student financial assistance programs.
According to the legislation, persons who have experienced “economic hardship” as a direct consequence of war, a military operation, or a national emergency may be exempt from making contributions, as well as those who are currently on active service and those who live in areas affected by a national emergency.
According to the Biden administration, broad debt forgiveness is possible due to the pandemic’s “economic hardship.”
When asked whether the scheme would hold up in court, Richmond said, “Yes, it would.”
However, because of the potential legal issues, even organizations like the centrist Democratic research tank Third Way have come out against the proposal.
People believe that the US president has the authority to forgive debt. Last year, Pelosi remarked, “He does not.”
According to The Hill, Lanae Erickson, senior vice president for social policy, education, and politics at Third Way, stated, “We’re really afraid that it will be held up in court and put borrowers in limbo.”
Due to the fact that loan servicers would be negatively affected by the debt forgiveness, experts have stated that they would file a lawsuit to oppose the scheme. However, certain federal courts have already rejected requests by government contractors to file legal action against rules that reduce their margin of profit.
According to Erickson, people who barely qualify for forgiveness, such as those who earn $126,000, may also be eligible to file a lawsuit.
Additionally, should the GOP regain control of the House of Representatives, they may sue the proposal as early as January, much as how then-House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, sued the Affordable Care Act in 2014.