Biden slams Republicans on Supreme Court's decision to strike down student-loan forgiveness plan

Washington DC [US], July 2 : US President Joe Biden on Saturday (US local time) said "the hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning."

The US President was talking about the Supreme Court's decision to strike down his student-loan forgiveness plan.

The US Supreme Court dealt a blow to the Joe Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan on Friday. The court rejected the program, which aimed to provide up to USD 20,000 in relief to millions of borrowers struggling with outstanding debt, CNN reported.

The decision in the court was 6-3 with Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the supermajority.

Republican-led states and conservatives challenging the Biden administration's program said that it amounts to an unlawful effort to forgive an estimated USD 430 billion of federal student loan debt under the guise of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Justice John Roberts noted that the Biden administration and the US Secretary of Education rewrote the law. Roberts wrote that the Secretary's comprehensive debt cancellation plan cannot be fairly termed as a "waiver," according to CNN.

US President Joe Biden on Saturday (US local time) said: "The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning. They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related business loans, including to their own businesses. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything to stop it."

Biden on Friday said: "I believe that the Court's decision to strike down our student debt relief plan is wrong."

"My Administration's student debt relief plan would have been the lifeline tens of millions of hardworking Americans needed as they try to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic. Nearly 90 per cent of the relief from our plan would have gone to borrowers making less than UDD 75,000 a year, and none of it would have gone to people making more than USD 125,000. It would have been life-changing for millions of Americans and their families. And it would have been good for economic growth, both in the short- and long-term," he said.