What Will Biden Do If Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Plan Fails?

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

(ConservativeHub.com) – According to a March 4 USA Today report, there has been pressure for the Biden administration to start considering alternative options for canceling the loan debt of millions of Americans. However, the Biden White House has not yet talked about what alternative options they have if the Supreme Court decides to block its student loan relief plan. Officials are still throwing all their weight at the current case, hoping to convince the court to rule in the plan’s favor.

The Biden administration’s lawyers presented their case before the Supreme Court justices last week in the hopes of convincing the conservative-leaning court to save the plan. On March 1, Biden told reporters that he believed that they were “on the right side of the law” even though he was not “confident” about what the outcome of the case would be.

Student loan relief was one of the big promises that Biden made during his 2020 presidential campaign. A few months before the 2022 midterm election, Biden announced a plan that would help forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for many Americans.

However, the move received significant backlash from critics who questioned Biden’s authority to make such a promise. The proposal quickly faced multiple lawsuits across the nation and two of these cases have now managed to reach the high court.

The Biden administration has remained optimistic against these challenges, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a press briefing that their plan remains the same and that the “solicitor general really defend[ed] in a strong and powerful way yesterday.” She continued by stating that they believed in the legality of their plan.

Still, some believe it would be better to have a backup plan in order. USA Today reported that NAACP’s Wisdom Cole said Biden should have “multiple options” on the table in case the court rules against the proposal. The outlet noted that the most obvious option would be for the White House to turn to Congress, but it’s unlikely that such a move would gain enough support in the legislative chambers.

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