North Dakota joins effort to stop student loan giveaway funded by ‘hardworking taxpayers’
The Biden administration continues to concoct new ways for American taxpayers to be held financially responsible for the student loans of untold thousands of fellow citizens who calculated a college degree was worth it. Yet it’s been anything but smooth sailing, thanks to a coalition of red states, including North Dakota, that continues to challenge the constitutionality of the proposed giveaway every step of the way.
That includes the administration’s newest gimmick to have taxpayers foot the bill for up to $1.1 trillion in student debt in a plan cynically called SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education). Word of North Dakota’s participation with six more states in a lawsuit to protect taxpayers came in a news release from the governor’s office.
Gov. Doug Burgum today conveyed his support for North Dakota joining a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s unlawful attempt to sidestep Congress and cancel student loan debt at considerable expense to U.S. taxpayers.
“President Biden’s latest attempt to cancel student loan debt is a blatant attempt to circumvent Congress and defy the U.S. Supreme Court, with the cost falling squarely on the backs of hardworking taxpayers,” Burgum said.
The legal challenge follows another lawsuit filed recently by 11 other red states against the election-year scheme. The AP notes the states hope to build on their success last year before the Supreme Court.
The lawsuit reprises a courtroom showdown between the Biden administration and Missouri, which was a central figure in the Supreme Court case that overturned the Democratic president’s first try at loan cancellation last year.
In that case, the Supreme Court found that loan cancellation would harm Missouri because of its affiliation with a quasi-state loan servicing company, MOHELA, that stood to lose revenue generated by federal student loans.
The new lawsuit makes a similar argument. Biden’s new SAVE Plan speeds up an existing path to loan cancellation, which the suit says would deprive MOHELA — the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority — of “up to 15 years in servicing fees.”
In fact, North Dakota also has a unique interest in seeing the administration’s maneuver torpedoed. The president’s proposed write-off would effectively penalize many residents.
“North Dakota’s situation is unique because our state-owned Bank of North Dakota allowed borrowers to consolidate their federal student loans at lower interest rates, and those borrowers – who made a smart financial decision – wouldn’t be eligible for Biden’s bailout, which smacks of unfairness,” Burgum said. “We are confident the court will remind the president that there are three separate but equal branches of government, and he can’t unilaterally sidestep the other two.”
The lawsuit came a day after the Biden administration announced an even broader proposal to reward student debt holders. Initial indications are the proposal is already in the red states’ crosshairs.
Hours after Biden unveiled it, [Missouri Attorney General Andrew] Bailey took to social media, calling the proposal an illegal attempt to bypass Congress.
“The rule of law means something in this country,” he wrote. “See you in court.”