Biden DOE planning 'workarounds' if Supreme Court rules against student loan forgiveness
Alfredo Ortiz, president of the Job Creators Network, criticizes news that the Biden administration is looking at 'walkarounds' in case the Supreme Court strikes down student loan forgiveness.
President Biden's Department of Education is preemptively planning "workarounds" that would allow the federal government to forgive at least $10,000 of most student loan borrowers' debt even if the Supreme Court strikes down the existing handout program later this month.
The Job Creators Network, a group that launched one of the lawsuits against the proposed plan, told The DailyMail about the alleged scheme in an article published Saturday, but withheld from speculating what those "workarounds" could look like.
"Biden knows that this [plan] was an illegal overreach, an administrative overreach from the beginning, and, if he didn't know it from the beginning he definitely knows it now because both chambers – the House and the Senate – sent a bill up to him for his signature that rejected it on a bipartisan basis, and he vetoed that," the groups' President Alfredo Ortiz said Monday on "Fox & Friends."
BIDEN VETOES CANCELING HIS $400 BILLION STUDENT LOAN HANDOUT, VOWS HE'S ‘NOT GOING TO BACK DOWN'
The Biden Education Department is allegedly planning ‘workarounds' in case the Supreme Court rules against the administration's student loan forgiveness plan. (iStock)
"Overall, folks don't want this, and this new income-driven repayment plan that he has, that reduces payments from 10% down to 5% of discretionary income is another clear example of administrative overreach."
Ortiz pledged to The DailyMail that if "workarounds" take place, his organization will legally challenge those as well.
Biden's initial handout plan is expected to cost taxpayers more than $400 billion, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, a number that has elicited outrage from some who argue the forgiveness is unfair to those who either paid their way through college, repaid their loans or never attended college in the first place.
BIDEN ADMIN HAS FORGIVEN BILLIONS IN STUDENT LOAN DEBT DESPITE PROBLEMS WITH PLAN: REPORT
President Joe Biden speaks ahead of vetoing a bill scrapping his $400 billion student loan handout on June 7, 2023 in the Oval Office. (White House)
"It's another example of how the Biden administration operates, attacking free enterprise and the way our system of checks and balances operates. He was basically laughing at it and moving forward with something that was clearly illegal," Ortiz told Fox News' Ainsley Earhardt. "We had to put a stop to it because it does, in many cases, represent something that isn't fair to taxpayers, and it doesn't actually address the root cause of the problem [tuition increases]."
He said tuition hikes have been steadily taking place since former President Barack Obama nationalized the college loan system years ago, raising college costs for students who are forced to take out loans to afford an education.
Student loan borrowers stage a rally in front of The White House to celebrate President Biden canceling student debt. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We the 45m)
The high court's ruling on the loan forgiveness program is expected to come this month, and legal experts, including Judicial Crisis Network President Carrie Severino, expect the court to "likely" shoot down the plan.
"Based on the arguments, that seems likely," she said Saturday on "Fox & Friends Weekend."
"It was a clear majority of justices who recognized this plan for what it is – a real power grab by the executive branch to try to disperse money from the treasury without Congress having allowed it to."
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