, the Court held that the State of Nebraska had shown that Biden’s plan would hurt MOHELA, its nonprofit student loan provider.
In the opinion, Roberts also quoted former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi , who admitted Biden did not have the constitutional authority to cancel student loan debt via executive powers alone, asserting that it “has to be an act of Congress.”The sharp debates generated by the Secretary [of Education]’s extraordinary program stand in stark contrast to the unanimity with which Congress passed the HEROES Act.
“People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress.” Press Conference, Office of the Speaker of the House . All this leads us to conclude that “[t]he basic and consequential tradeoffs” inherent in a mass debt cancellation program “are ones that Congress would likely have intended for itself.” … In such circumstances, we have required the Secretary to “point to ‘clear congressional authorization’” to justify the challenged program.
However, after the Court’s decision, Biden signaled that his administration would continue to seek ways to provide student debt relief.Student loan payments