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

You may be too young or just too uneducated to understand. Try learning something but I'll give you one example:

I'm 64 and have no college debt- I paid it off. But:

In 1977 when I first went to college my first year at a well regarded private university cost $1200. Yes, for the whole first year.

I transferred back home and went part time at my local state university. I paid with cash- paper bills that I got out of the bank and took to the college to pay and got a paper receipt.

Times have changed- I know, personally, a college grad who had over 50K in debt- that was the only way for him to go to school.

He developed a talk to text program that made it easier for deaf people to communicate.

The computer and apps you use were likely developed by someone who took on massive debt.

The problems lie beyond an 18 year old taking on thousands of dollars in debt, but this is one step in the right direction to fix the economy and the problems we have.

And the average person won't pay for them- the wealth tax (for those brining in more than 10 billion a year) and the money that these now debt free people are putting back into the economy will pay for it.

Didn't Trump bypass congress to fund his vanity border wall with defense funds? You remember that wall. It is the one that Trump said Mexico would pay for.

Because Trump has entirely abandoned his border wall plan this campaign, I think it is a reasonable conclusion to assume this whole border wall policy was a political show and not a real solution.

I recall he moved funds from another program. So no change to national debt.

"Can someone with a law background - not some left or right wing hack - please explain why this version of it might be legal?"

You own this site and you seriously think this is going to happen? Really?

huh! I am 66. So what do we do for those taking out car loans and having trouble with them. or small business loans.....where do we stop. I for one think if I signed onto a loan it is up to me to repay it. If I chose a degree that won't enable me to get a high enough paying job, well that is on me.

I'd feel a whole lot better about some government job to pay for nursing school, that some graduate program in philosophy.

Since we are patting ourselves on the back, I got an engineering degree from a 5 year coop program, and I graduated with no debt, and a little money in my pocket. And started saving money from day 1 on my job. Lived well within my means. Paid off my mortgage in 20 years, at age 50. Retired at 55 and still have not touched either my IRA or 401k.

How many people bring in $10 Billion per year? How many even have net worth of $10 Billion?

Trump approved covid loans. Biden forgave them. It was a transfer of $5 trillion from the poor to the rich that will cost our children a secure future.

How about let the voters decide?

It was my understanding the money for debt relief is coming from the higher education budget so it will be passed on to future college students with higher tuition costs.

Many of you are not very creative thinkers

I never said loan forgiveness was wrong - I just feel it's illegal.

Personally, if we pay for school up through 12th grade, I'm not opposed to paying for it through 16th grade or doing some European type model. The cost of schooling is INSANE. I don't get why so many conservatives are like, "If I paid for it - so must you."

But i also believe it's important to be a nation of laws. I don't care if he ran on it. If he ran on it, he needs to get Congress to pass it.

You do realize we have a filter at the top of the messageboard that says "Running threads only" and then you won't see this thread. Plus no one forced you to click on it.

I know nothing about it but an Act is passed by Congress.

I'm going to have stop posting on this thread. It was legal because CONGRESS passed a covid bill. Him putting his name on it is a disgrace but I'm not worried about the unconstituionality of it. If I'm ever an elected official, I'm going to tear down all the signs that say, "Welcome to Maryalnd - Robert Johnson governor" and replace it with "Mary Sue - nurse of the year."

My Boomer neighbor was killed at age 20 or 21 in what was then South Vietnam. US Boomers lived through a draft whereas later generations did not.

Please stop venting your ill-considered viewpoint.

The difference is student loans are high risk, high value and arranged when a person is 17/18 years old and has no income, collateral or financial history. No other loan would ever been given to such a person in those circumstances (not even a credit card). There's a strong case for them being sold without diligence.

The other case for debt foregiveness is that it's beginning to effect everyone because young people have such little money they're not buying houses, having kids, or spending in the economy like they used to. Who are all the retirees going to sell their houses to if few younger people can afford to buy them?

Six pages of responses and this is the only one that actually answers rojo's question (almost).

Biden tried to use a section of the HEROES Act (COVID relief legislation) to cancel student debt. The HEROES Act gave the secretary of education the power to "waive or modify" student loan debt. The US Supreme Court, invoking the "major question" doctrine (i.e. conservatives don't like what the government is doing and strikes it down based on self serving reading of the law), held that the terms "waive" and "modify" did not give the secretary the power to issue wholesale debt forgiveness.

Now, the Biden administration is turning to Section 1082 of Title 20 of the United States Code that gives the secretary of education the authority to “compromise, waive, or release any right, title, claim, lien, or demand, however acquired, including any equity or any right of redemption.” Also, this plan requires borrowers to have made payments for 10 years and is not simply wiping out debt for borrowers who have not made payments. The idea is that the student loan program is inherently unfair in the way that borrowers have paid tons of interest but have barely cracked any principal over a long period of time. So, the Sec. of Education is going to enter into a "compromise" and "release" the borrowers from their repayment obligations.

This is really not a "power of the purse" issue as administrative agencies can be delegated the authority to make loans and provide debt forgiveness. The Small Business Administration can provide debt forgiveness on SBA loans. The question with the student loan forgiveness program is whether the statutory language is sufficient to give the administrative agency the authority to forgive the debt. But there is no questing that with sufficient legislative authority and proper agency rule making, a Federal agency that loans funds can engage in a debt forgiveness program.

I was first on both sides of my family to earn a college degree (and also a graduate degree, and professional license). My family was poor, unable to help pay the cost other than occasionally some money for groceries to make sure I was eating enough. To be practical, I went to lower tuition state schools. Worked 25 hours a week through college, and multiple jobs every summer. Paid everything myself including rent, and still went out to parties/bars/concerts etc. and lived a fun college life.

$50k of debt after grad school. Only tuition and room & board, didn't take out debt for spending money, books, or meal plans. Budgeted properly living within my means (used car, no extravagant trips, controlled spending at bars/concerts) and paid all off in 5 years. My last payment was using COVID stimulus money.

Most of my friends used their stimulus money to buy new TVs, tattoos, gaming consoles, clothes, etc. They all voted for Biden and whine about student debt, while they have spent beyond their means ever since college and tried to ignore the debt and push it off as far as possible, rather than be responsible and confront it with aggressive budgeting.

Which one of us are you? A whiner who wants others to pay consequences for your actions, or a hard working doer who makes their own future?

You said "young voters". Newsflash...folks in their 30's and 40's are still paying off student loan debt.

SMH....

haha zip it boomer. student debt relief for all young people.

The payoff is for those who make hardly any money and have paid the loan off already, it's to keep the interest from burying them. I guess corporate welfare is okay though, right?