The Biden administration is reportedly preparing to take a second crack at broad student loan forgiveness for millions of Americans after the Supreme Court struck down its first attempt.
Citing people familiar, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the administration will roll out proposed regulations offering sweeping bailouts as early as next week, and “the president’s advisers hope to use the rules to begin canceling waves of student debt in the run-up to the November election.”
The White House did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment on the report.
President Biden’s initial student loan handout plan, which would have provided up to $20,000 in debt relief to borrowers who make less than $125,000, was rejected last year by the Supreme Court, which found the administration did not have the authority to cancel the debt. That program was expected to cost the government more than $400 billion.
BIDEN ‘CANCELS’ NEARLY $6B IN STUDENT LOANS FOR PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS
After his first plan was rejected, Biden vowed that he would “[S]top at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families,” and has since wiped away nearly $138 billion in federal student loans for almost 3.9 million borrowers through other actions while circumventing Congress, which holds the power of the purse.
The president’s forthcoming attempt at sweeping debt cancellation comes as polling shows he is struggling with younger voters compared to his first White House run, and another controversial student loan handout is expected to be challenged in court.
KANSAS AG SUES TO BLOCK BIDEN’S STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS PLAN
Also on Friday, a U.S. appeals court blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a rule that would make it easier for people defrauded by their colleges or universities to have their student loans forgiven, saying key provisions were “almost certainly unlawful.”
U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Jones, writing for the three-judge panel, said Career Colleges and Schools of Texas (CCST) was likely to succeed in proving the U.S. Department of Education overreached and lacked authority under the Higher Education Act to adopt the regulation.
She said the regulation “seems to be of a piece” with the Biden administration’s efforts to sidestep the Supreme Court’s ruling barring it from canceling $430 billion in student loan debt for 43 million borrowers.
FOX Business’ Chris Pandolfo and Reuters contributed to this report.
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