Missouri AG sues Biden over new student loan forgiveness plan
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Today, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey led a seven-state coalition in filing suit against the Biden Administration’s latest illegal student loan plan. His lawsuit targets what the federal government calls the “SAVE” Plan, which in reality will cost Americans $475 billion – $45 billion more than its last unlawful student loan plan.
“With the stroke of his pen, Joe Biden is attempting to saddle working Missourians with a half trillion dollars in college debt. The United States Constitution makes clear that the President lacks the authority to unilaterally ‘cancel’ student loan debt for millions of Americans without express permission from Congress,” said Attorney General Bailey. “The President does not get to thwart the Constitution when it suits his political agenda. I’m filing suit to halt his brazen attempt to curry favor with some citizens by forcing others to shoulder their debts. The Constitution will continue to mean something as long as I’m Attorney General.”
In the suit, the States assert, “Just last year, the Supreme Court struck down an attempt by the President to force teachers, truckers, and farmers to pay for the student loan debt of other Americans—to the enormous tune of $430 billion. In striking down that attempt, the Court declared that the President cannot ‘unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy.’ Undeterred, the President is at it again, even bragging that ‘the Supreme Court blocked it. They blocked it. But that didn’t stop me.’”
The States note, “Yet again, the President is unilaterally trying to impose an extraordinarily expensive and controversial policy that he could not get through Congress. This latest attempt to sidestep the Constitution is only the most recent instance in a long but troubling pattern of the President relying on innocuous language from decades-old statutes to impose drastic, costly policy changes on the American people without their consent.”
The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of Attorney General Bailey’s previous challenge to the Biden Administration’s unilateral and unlawful wealth transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt. In a 6-3 decision, the Court struck down Biden’s repayment plan as unconstitutional, citing the massive $430 billion-plus impact on the federal budget without express authority from Congress. The Court held that Missouri’s student loan servicing company, MOHELA, was an arm of Missouri’s state government, and therefore, granted the states standing to challenge the student loan plan.
Joining General Bailey in filing suit are the attorneys general of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahoma.
The lawsuit can be read here.
This student loan lawsuit is personal for me.
I paid for my education in blood, sweat, and tears in service to my nation, as did so many others.
It’s a slap in the face to every working American to be left with the tab for someone else’s Ivy League debt. pic.twitter.com/E67qx1RMsP
— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) April 9, 2024