Over 100 GOP House members sign amicus brief against Biden student loan forgiveness

A group of over one hundred Republican members of the US House of Representatives signed an amicus brief filed this week arguing against President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.

Led by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Representative Jeff Duncan (R-SC), the GOP reps flocked to sign the brief that claims Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan is an abuse of the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act, which allows the federal government to forgive student debt in response to a national emergency. The HEROES Act was implemented in May, 2020 after the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Foxx, who is the Chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, says the move by the White House to forgive student debt without going through Congress is shameful. “The Biden administration’s student loan bailout is a political gambit engineered by special interest groups; abusing the HEROES Act for such a ploy is shameful,” she said. “Moreover, this administration is bypassing Congress, which is elected by the American people to protect their interests.”

Rep. Duncan said in a statement, “The Biden Administration does not have the authority to unilaterally ‘forgive’ student loan debt across the board, and attempting to do so is nothing more than a political maneuver. This exploits the original intention of the HEROES Act of 2003.”

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments against the student loan forgiveness plan later this month. The amicus brief is meant to bolster the plaintiff’s case against the plan.