White House backs ‘legal merit’ of canceling student loans despite court setbacks

President Joe Biden is working to fulfill his campaign pledge to cancel student debt during his last months in office.

Biden is asking the Supreme Court to lift a block on its Saving on a Valuable Education plan after an appeals court temporarily enjoined it last week, even though the court ruled against him over a similar plan last year. The White House says it’s on firm legal footing.

“We believe in the legal merit of those policies,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday in response to a question from the Washington Examiner. “We’re always confident on that ground.”

Conservatives say Biden is usurping both the high court and Congress by trying to cancel student loans on his own. Jean-Pierre said the president disagrees and has already canceled $168 billion in loans despite courtroom setbacks. If implemented in full, Biden’s plans would cost taxpayers hundreds of billions more.

“He wants to make sure that we give Americans an opportunity to start their families, right? To buy a home,” Jean-Pierre said. “We put forth a robust plan, and Republicans got in the way. They blocked it. They continue to block it.”

Biden promised in 2020 to “cancel” at least $10,000 of student loan debt per borrower and tried to do just that after being elected. The Supreme Court ruled in June 2023 that such a plan was unconstitutional, but Biden has pressed forward with similar plans anyway, saying, “The Supreme Court blocked it. They blocked it. But that didn’t stop me.”

Vice President Kamala Harris has not released a detailed economic plan or made specific promises regarding student loans, though she supported Biden’s $10,000 pledge in 2020. Jean-Pierre said both Biden and Harris have new announcements coming.

“Tomorrow, you’re going to hear from the president and the vice president as they continue their efforts to make sure that we are lowering costs for Americans,” she told the Washington Examiner. “You’ll hear more in a couple of hours about what that’s going to look like, what that announcement is going to be. But it is our commitment, the president and the vice president’s commitment to do just that.”