state university.
Judy: Courts have handed a pair
of victories to president Biden
to reduce student loan debt.
The decisions come as the
application process for the debt
relief program has opened
online.
John yang has the latest.
>> States have gone to court to
block the debt forgiveness
program but without success.
President Biden hit back at
Republican critics of the plan.
>> Let's talk about who is
against about millions of you
who need the help to make sure
you have a shot.
Republican members of congress
and Republican governors are
trying to deny their relief to
their constituents.
As soon as I announced my plan
saying all kinds of thing.
Outrage is wrong and
hypocritical.
>> 45 million Americans carry
student loan debt but not all
are eligible.
The economics of higher
education for the "Washington
post" and Danielle, thanks for
joining us, so who is eligible
for this program?
>> Anyone with undergraduate
loans, graduate loans that are
held by the education
department, as long as they are
individually making less $125 a
year or if they are a married
couple, $250,000 would be
eligible.
There are some borrowers who
have federal loans that are
backed by the federal
government, yet they are not
eligible because the loans are
held by private lenders.
Until recently, those folks
could consolidate those loans to
make themselves eligible for
this relief program.
Around September 29, department
of education said those people
would no longer be able to
participate in the program.
>> Folks who are eligible, is
there a timeline?
Is there a time they have to
apply by?
Do some of them get this
automatically?
And what sort of things do you
need to apply?
>> You need to apply before the
end of 2023.
December 31, 2023.
12 million have applied since
the department of education
opened the application last
Friday and officially launched
this Monday.
As far as the people who can
automatically see relief, eight
million for whom the department
of education has their
information on file and recently
filled out the financial aid
form and tied to their income.
They are being notified.
And they have received an email
saying you are eligible for
automatic relief and don't need
to fly.
However, if you would like to
receive the relief than the
people who are in the auto camp,
feel free to submit an
application.
Now the department is collecting
applications but uncertain when
they will start discharging the
debt.
>> You talked about the loan
consolidation, people who have
federally-backed loans are cut
out of this.
How many people are there like
this?
And a federal judge in Missouri
who dismissed a challenge to
this program from six
republican-led states talked
about that provision is one of
the reasons why he threw the
case out.
Could you explain that to us?
>> Certainly.
There are 770,000 people who
fall into this category of
having federally-backed loans
held by private agencies.
A couple in Missouri and
Arkansas were at the center.
They didn't file the lawsuit
trying to block this program,
but state a.g.'s did.
They said that the state would
be robbed of revenue if the
program would continue because
it would entice people to
consolidate their loans.
The department of trying to cut
out people who could consolidate
this program kind of undermined
that argument, at least that's
what the judge said in
yesterday's ruling.
He dismissed that case because
none of the people who brought
it had the standing to do so,
meaning they couldn't prove
actual harm.
The case is being appealed and
we are waiting to see what that
three panel judges decide.
>> Standing was brought by a
taxpayer group from Wisconsin.
The district court and the
appeals court all agreed that
the group did not have standing.
Supreme court justice Barrett
upheld those rulings.
Are there other challenges in
the pipeline that could threaten
this?
>> We have seven active lawsuits
that are in some stage and a
number of them have been
dismissed because of standing
and they are trying to fight for
relief.
The next one we would be wise to
watch if you are borrower is a
case coming out of Texas filed
by two borrowers, one who has
one of those privately held,
federally-backed loans who is
claiming they are not going to
be able to take advantage of the
program and the other borrower
involved in that case is not
eligible for the $20,000 of
relief of those who had federal
Pell grants, a particular grant
for low-income students.
And these two borrowers saying
it is arbitrary type of
guidelines that the department
of education is deciding who is
eligible and who is not and they
are suing and there are other
reasons as the president doesn't
have the authority to do that
which is at the heart.
Challenging whether that the
president can have the authority
to do this without congressional
action, hashingenning back to
the EPA case that came before
the supreme court.
People are interested to see
whether any of these cases get
past the issue of standing and
if judges look at the merits of
their arguments, will they say
yes, the president's authority
that he is using does hold up,
or, no, that congress needs to
be involved in the decision of
this magnitude.