Biden vacates $1.2 billion in student debt relief - How in the world is this legal?

Rojo, the answer to your question is that it is legal because Biden is relying on existing congressionally-approved debt forgiveness programs (and expanding them through the rulemaking process) rather than issuing executive orders, which the Court ruled was unconstitutional.

So the government taking less of the money from the only people in US who are net tax payers is bribery but forgiving debt a person chose to take on at other taxpayers expense is not. Got it.

I think there is a fundamental disagreement on the nature of government between us. You seem to think the government has a right to peoples possessions, I do not. You should educate yourself about property rights.

Most of the comments here are based on emotions and ideas about equity. These are political, not legal concerns. For example, the Biden actions are being taken without Congressional approval. The Supreme Court said this is illegal. The Often mentioned "Trump Tax Cuts" or Tax Cuts for the Rich" were all approved by Congress. So not illegal.

Many Democrats/Liberals don't like the supremecy of the Legislative branch. They apparantly feel these legislators are unduly influenced by the rich and powerful. But the voting on issues by hundreds of legislators is certainly more democratic than the actions of one administration. Legislative supremecy is more likely to protect the interests of all. All those plumbers, construction workers, landscapers etc. probably are glad that their representatives have to give approval to such action which clearly helps the upper class.

It is important to note that Biden has been very upfront in stating he does not have to follow the law on this issue. It seems like his position is taking hold in his party on issues such as crime, the border, etc. If he doesn't like the law he won't follow it.

You are aware that most of the right wing voters in florida are immigrants. Yall win that state every year because you know you cant kick them out or you will lose.

And you have have long made clear your views about Muslims.

You're just as bigoted as he is, only from a different angle.

This approaches the facts. Anyone paying attention to history and the working of government knows that the US presidency is a time bound monarchy. Executive orders are law.

Further, isn’t this a bung to big capital rather than to the debtors? The Senator from MBNA is nothing but steadfast

Yes, but this is just art. Rule making is law making. Even dictators draw on precedent and legal creativity to make law.

If the president does it it is legal doesn’t mean that the mechanics of power don’t perform the ritual processes that legitimize their decision-making.

If the government's position is that these people were defrauded, mislead, the schools did not somehow actually prepare these people for a job, then why isnt the government going after the schools?

Its nice to hear one person mention the downside of everyone wishing bad things on others because "they had to do it". However, if you feel so strongly that it is illegal then you clearly DO think its wrong. If you felt it crazy that it was illegal you wouldn't be so outraged.

If you follow student loan culture over the last 20+ years, these are not traditional banks with clear rates and disclosures getting somehow screwed. These are the lowest people on the face of the earth. The government has sued them and won. They just change their name and keep going. They are the check cashing services of the education world.

Congress is incapable of anything since the GOP majority. Its frozen. The president needs to do something when he thinks it is beneficial. It shouldn't be that way, but that's what we have now. Personally, if the Pres can make a unilateral decision that affects justice for all, I am for it when Congress is inept.

justice.gov

Justice Department Reaches $60 Million Settlement with Sallie Mae to Resolve Allegations of Charging Military Servicemembers Excessive Rates on Student Loans

The Department of Justice today announced the federal government’s first lawsuit filed against owners and servicers of student loans for violating the rights of servicemembers eligible for benefits and protections under the S...

Open link

consumerfinance.gov

CFPB Sues Nation's Largest Student Loan Company Navient for Failing Borrowers at Every Stage of Repayment | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

https://www.facebook.com/CFPB

Navient, Formerly Part of Sallie Mae, Illegally Cheated Borrowers Out of Repayment Rights Through Shortcuts and Deception.

Open link

What is the Navient (sallie mae) lawsuit?
The settlement with 39 states is separate from the ongoing litigation stemming from a suit filed by the CFPB in January 2017, but the arguments are largely the same.
Among other things, the CFPB alleges that since at least January 2010, Navient has:
Misallocated payments
Steered struggling borrowers toward multiple forbearances instead of income-driven repayment plans, and
Provided unclear information about how to re-enroll in income-driven repayment plans and how to qualify for a co-signer release.

1. The law in several areas gives the DoE (therefore Biden) the authority to suspend or forgive loan repayment by individuals.

2. The Founders did not anticipate that Congress would lend out a substantial fraction of the nations wealth (about 2 trillion) to a segment of the voting population.

3. Constitution gives the power of appropriation to Congress not the President.

4. Lending and then forgiving has been made into a two step process that circumvents the Congress.

5. Biden takes this to new heights (or depths), daring the Supreme Court to invalidate his actions. The court did that with his first massive forgiveness program. But will they do that when he his doing the same thing with a large number of small forgivenesses? In the world of money laundering they would call it "smurfing".

congress passed a bill giving massive liberty to the president to waive, forgive, reduce, etc. student loans. you're pretending he lacks legislative authority. he has it. what scotus did was invent a "major questions doctrine" and then begin reading nonexistent limitations into the broad authority. "they must have meant." even when congresspeople stood up and said, "no, i meant what i said."

you're the "read it literally" text people on the constitution. go read the law and come back and tell me what it says. if congress says you can wipe it out, he can wipe it out. this was done during covid. there's a reason he was given that much power. contrary to trumpists' inflation pouting, we didn't know if the economy would make it out the other side. we decided to empower the president to do something about student loans if that proved a thorn in the side of the economy.

I think this is sickening. It really is a slap in the face to people that work to put themselves through school, to those that actually paid back their loans, people that joined the military just to afford school-literally placing themselves in harms way for the chance at a college degree.

It's a violation of the social contact.

but then I remeber

"Too big to fail..." We all just lived with that when these companies received huge amounts of government money after behaving in very very very bad and risky ways, but then when it came time to pay, they didnt. The government removed the risk that was supposed to be a check on that type of behavior. Nobody went to jail. Nobody paid for their bad behavior, and those were all supper rich and super connected people. Why should we care about this?