Courts halt parts of Biden’s student loan repayment plan

Washington CNN —

Two federal court judges in Kansas and Missouri have paused parts of a student loan repayment plan that the Biden administration launched last year, which lowers borrowers’ monthly payments and provides a faster route to debt forgiveness.

Two lawsuits filed by Republican-led states argue that the Biden administration overstepped its authority when it implemented the SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education) repayment plan.

Both judges granted partial preliminary injunctions Monday.

Two parts of the SAVE plan will be on pause until the cases are fully litigated.

The Biden administration cannot cancel any more federal student debt for borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan. Under the plan, borrowers qualify for debt forgiveness once they make at least 10 years of payments. To date, $5.5 billion has been canceled for 414,000 people enrolled in SAVE.

The Biden administration will also be blocked from implementing further provisions of the SAVE plan. In July, millions of people were expecting to see their payments lowered – but it’s now unclear whether those reductions will occur.

“Today’s rulings won’t stop our Administration from using every tool available to give students and borrowers the relief they need,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Monday night in which she criticized the rulings and said the Department of Justice would work to defend the plan.

On Tuesday, Jean-Pierre said in a post on X that the Department of Justice will appeal both decisions.

“While we continue to review these rulings, the SAVE plan still means lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers - including more than 4 million borrowers who owe no payments at all, and protections for