拜登政府周一对联邦上诉法院做出回应，该法院暂时阻止了总统取消数十亿美元学生贷款的计划，这是他在中期选举前两周一直在宣扬的事情。
已经申请债务豁免的2200多万借款人现在面临着不确定的未来。美国第八巡回上诉法院暂时站在六个共和党领导的州一边，这些州起诉阻止乔·拜登的救助计划，并停止了任何贷款豁免的前进步伐——这可能最早于本周开始。
周一，政府在回应中称，提起诉讼的州没有起诉权:“原告不会因为向数百万美国人提供急需的救济而遭受不可挽回的伤害，但公众利益会因其遭到拒绝而受到极大损害。”
这起诉讼，以及对拜登计划的至少五项额外法律挑战，使得人们不清楚是否会在1月1日之前达成决议，届时所有联邦学生贷款的支付将在新冠肺炎疫情暂停近三年后重新开始。这些挑战声称，拜登在实施学生贷款取消计划方面超越了他的总统权限。
白宫新闻秘书郭佳欣·让-皮埃尔星期五在一份声明中说，拜登政府将继续与起诉阻止他们提供贷款减免努力的共和党人斗争。
Jean-Pierre在一份声明中说:“今晚的临时命令并不阻止借款人申请studentaid.gov大学的学生债务减免，我们鼓励符合条件的借款人加入教育部已经拥有其信息的近2200万美国人的行列。”“这也不妨碍我们审查这些申请，并准备将它们转交给贷款服务机构。”
她说，该命令“只是在法院做出裁决之前防止债务被清偿。”
让-皮埃尔周一在回答美国广播公司新闻的一个问题时重申了这一点:“总统将尽一切努力确保我们完成这项工作。”然而，当被问及拜登是否会考虑延长冻结付款时，让-皮埃尔说，她不会“进行假设”
教育部长米格尔·卡多纳发表了一份与新闻秘书类似的声明，称临时禁令并不妨碍教育部审查自该项目启动以来收到的“数百万份申请”:
“今天的临时决定并没有阻止拜登政府为借款人提供申请债务减免机会的努力，也没有阻止我们审查我们收到的数百万份申请。在共和党人竭力阻挠我们的债务减免计划之际，我们正全速前进，准备向需要帮助的借款人提供救济。在我们按照这一命令继续准备的同时，我们继续鼓励美国工薪阶层和中产阶级向studentaid.gov申请债务减免。拜登总统和本届政府致力于为全国数百万勤奋的学生和借款人而奋斗。"
拜登在8月份宣布了他的计划，并于上周一启动了申请程序。上周，政府看到该计划在法律上取得了一些成功。
在上诉法院做出裁决的前一天，美国地区法官亨利·奥崔驳回了诉讼裁决，即阿肯色州、爱荷华州、堪萨斯州、密苏里州、内布拉斯加州和南卡罗来纳州这六个州未能证明他们有资格。
最高法院法官艾米·科尼·巴雷特也拒绝了一个保守的威斯康星州纳税人团体提出的阻止该计划的请求。
“[共和党人]甚至在法庭上与此抗争。但就在昨天，州法院和最高法院说不，我们站在拜登一边，”拜登周五在特拉华州立大学说。
根据该计划，学生贷款低于125，000美元的个人可以申请高达10，000美元的债务减免，或者高达20，000美元的合格借款人，也是佩尔助学金的获得者。
Biden's student loan forgiveness plan on hold after appeals court blocks
The Biden administration on Monday responded to a federal appeals court that has placed a temporary block on the president's plan to cancel billions of dollars in student loans, something he's been touting with just two weeks to go before the midterm elections.
More than 22 million borrowers who have already applied for debt forgiveness now face an uncertain future. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily sided with six Republican-led states that sued to block Joe Biden's relief program and halted moves forward for any loan forgiveness -- which could have started as early as this week.
On Monday, the government argued in its response that the states who sued don't have standing: "Plaintiffs will suffer no irreparable injury from the provision of much-needed relief to millions of Americans, but the public interest would be greatly harmed by its denial."
The lawsuit, along with at least five additional legal challenges to Biden's plan, have made it unclear whether a resolution will come by Jan. 1, when payments on all federal student loans are set to restart after a nearly three-year pause amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges claim that Biden has overstepped his presidential authority in implementing the student loan cancellation program.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Friday that the Biden administration will continue to fight the Republicans who are suing to block their efforts to provide loan relief.
"Tonight's temporary order does not prevent borrowers from applying for student debt relief at studentaid.gov -- and we encourage eligible borrowers to join the nearly 22 million Americans whose information the Department of Education already has," Jean-Pierre said in a statement. "It also does not prevent us from reviewing these applications and preparing them for transmission to loan servicers."
She said the order "merely prevents debt from being discharged until the court makes a decision."
Jean-Pierre reiterated that on Monday, saying in response to a question from ABC News: "The president is going to do everything that he can to make sure that we get this done." Asked, however, if Biden would consider an extension of the payment freeze, Jean-Pierre said she wouldn't "get into hypotheticals."
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona issued a similar statement as the press secretary, saying the temporary block doesn't prevent the department from reviewing the "millions of applications" it has received since launching the program:
"Today's temporary decision does not stop the Biden Administration's efforts to provide borrowers the opportunity to apply for debt relief nor does it prevent us from reviewing the millions of applications we have received. Amidst Republicans' efforts to block our debt relief program, we are moving full speed ahead to be ready to deliver relief to borrowers who need the help. As we continue our preparations in compliance with this order, we continue to encourage working- and middle-class Americans to apply for debt relief at studentaid.gov. President Biden and this Administration are committed to fighting for the millions of hardworking students and borrowers across the country."
Biden announced his plan in August and launched the application process on last Monday. Last week, the administration saw some legal success for the program.
The appeals court decision came a day after U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey dismissed the suit ruling that the six states -- Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina -- failed to establish they had standing.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett also rejected a request to block the program brought by a conservative Wisconsin taxpayers group.
"[Republicans] even fought this in the courts. But just yesterday, State Court and the Supreme Court said no, we're on Biden's side," Biden said at Delaware State University on Friday.
Under the plan, individuals with student loans making less than $125,000 can apply for up to $10,000 of debt relief, or as much as $20,000 for eligible borrowers who were also Pell Grant recipients.
