Update: After U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman’s decision yesterday to rule against President Biden’s proposed plan for student loan bailouts, the DOJ has filed an appeal against the ruling. The media has criticized the plaintiff who brought the case for their affiliation with Job Creators Network Foundation for being right-wing in their eyes, as well as being billionaire funded. The media has also criticized the judge, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, for being a Trump-appointed judge. The grounds for President Biden’s student debt bailout have always been viewed as shaky, as the COVID-19 pandemic struck the country over 2 years ago. Many who took out student loans did not make the decision based whatsoever on the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s unclear whether the allegations against the judge for conspiring with right-wing groups will materialize into President Biden’s proposed plan moving forward.
Nonetheless, the DOJ intends to appeal the judge’s decision. After the U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman’s decision to strike down the proposed student bailout plan, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement, “we strongly disagree with the District Court’s ruling on our student debt relief program and the Department of Justice has filed an appeal.” Jean-Pierre added, “The president and this administration are determined to help to work and middle-class Americans get back on their feet, while our opponents—backed by extreme Republican special interests—sued to block millions of Americans from getting much-needed relief.”
While many are attempting to claim that U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman’s decision to strike down the Biden administration’s proposed plan to forgive student loans was a political move – which is a conspiracy that the left would typically not tolerate – many have also claimed that the Biden Administrations plan was nothing more than an attempt to bribe young voters before the Midterm elections and put off the “red wave.” The Guardian on Friday, Debt Collective co-founder Astra Taylor noted her views on the student bail-out plan, claiming that the Biden Administration’s plan may have been an effort to motivate young voters to turn out in large numbers for the Midterm elections. The writing was on the wall that the Democratic party was in a tight spot politically due to President Biden’s low approval rating just two years into taking office, and Democrats were attempting to put off the “red wave” that Republicans had predicted.
Simply, if the Biden Administration’s move was both unconstitutional and politically motivated to bail out large sums of student loan debt in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, then it’s not a political move by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman to rule against the case. Without sufficient evidence that U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman conspired in a political way to strike down a perfectly legal ruling, then it’s unlikely the Biden Administration will be granted an appeal.
Federal judge, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, ruled that President Biden’s student loan bailout violated federal procedures and defied the government’s inherent separation of powers doctrine. In his ruling, Pittman said “In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone,” adding, “Instead, we are ruled by a Constitution that provides for three distinct and independent branches of government.” The lawsuit from last month comes from The Job Creators Network on behalf of two of their borrowers, both of which were denied the benefits of President Biden’s program.
The proposed Biden plan was heavily criticized as a “bribe” for young voters who avoid paying for overpriced education if they support a President with a dwindling approval rating. Criticisms have also been raised surrounding Biden’s choice to alligate funds towards student loan bailouts at a time when the country is well over an 8% inflation rate and the U.S. economy is doing poor on nearly every front.
Conveniently, this ruling was not released prior to the Midterm elections, where Generation Z showed out for the Democratic party. If this ruling was released prior to November 8th, Generation Z would have likely stayed home due to President Biden and the Democratic party’s empty promises.
President Biden has recently stated that the United States is no longer in a COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency, and the student debt bailout program was made with the intention of relieving people of their loans due to COVID-19, however, the reasoning behind the student debt bailout is widely considered to be a stretch now 2 years removed from the COVID-19 pandemic, along with that, it’s seen as an abuse of power from President Biden for evading approval from congress and the senate.
If approved, Biden’s proposed bailout would have canceled up to $10,000 of student loan debt for individuals who earn less than $125,000 per year, and for married couples up to $250,000 per year.
