Biden Student Loan Forgiveness Updates: 22 Million People Have Signed Up for Relief

Biden Says the Courts Are on His Side

President Joe Biden condemned Republican Congressmembers and governors who have "attacked" his student debt relief plan.

He said Republicans are "doing everything they can to deny this relief, even to their own constituents." Biden called the outrage among the GOP "wrong and hypocritical."

"We're not letting them get away with it," he said.

Despite Republicans' legal efforts to block the plan, Biden said the state and federal courts said "no, we're on Biden's side."

He said he will never apologize helping middle class Americans while he said Republicans vote for tax cuts to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations.

Biden also called out the hypocrisy among "MAGA Republicans" who received pandemic loan forgiveness who are now "attacking" his student loan relief plan.

The President named Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said "it was completely unfair" for the Biden administration to forgive student laons for middle class Americans. He said Greene and her husband received $180,000 in business loan forgiveness.

Florida Congressman Vern Buchanan, who called Biden's plan "reckless," got over $2.3 million in PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loans forgiven.

Biden said Republicans claim his student debt relief plan only helps "the elite few." He then turned to the crowd at Delaware State University and jokingly asked them, "do you know you're the elite few? I knew you were really special, but do you know you're the elite few?"

He also said Texas Senator Ted Cruz said the student debt forgiveness plan is for "slackers who don't deserve relief."

"Who in the hell do they think they are?" Biden asked.

22 Million People Signed Up for Relief, Biden Says

President Joe Biden said he is fulfilling a campaign promise with his student debt relief plan.

"My commitment when I ran for President was that if I was elected, I would make the government work and deliver for the people," Biden said during a speech at Delaware State University Friday afternoon.

The Student Debit Relief Plan will help more than 40 million Americans, specifically working people and the middle class. Nearly 90 percent of borrowers who will receive relief are making under $75,000 a year, Biden said, adding that "not a dime" will go to the top percent of earners.

Biden said some 22 million people have already signed up for student loan relief.

"This simple application process keeps that commitment just as I'm keeping my commitment to relieve student debt as borrowers recover from the economic crisis caused by a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic," he said.

Biden said this plan lowers coasts for Americans as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic "to give everybody a little more breathing room."

U.S. Representatives Greet Biden in Delaware

Several U.S. Representatives greeted President Joe Biden as he landed in Delaware Friday afternoon.

U.S. Senator Chris Coons, U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester and U.S. Senator Tom Carper, all Democrats, met Biden as he walked off of Air Force One.

"A beautiful day to welcome POTUS back to Delaware!" Coons said.

The representatives then headed to Delaware State University where Biden will deliver remarks shortly on his student loan debt forgiveness plan.

Herschel Walker Slams Debt Plan

Herschel Walker, Georgia's Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, slammed President Joe Biden's student loan debt forgiveness plan at a campaign event.

"Can you believe that?" Walker asked the crowd. "Now we gotta pay for other people['s] college loans. I have enough problems paying my own debt, now I gotta pay somebody else's debt!"

Walker is reportedly worth between $29 million and $65 million, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Biden to Speak Soon

President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on his student loan debt forgiveness plan soon.

Biden is expected to speak at 3:15 p.m. ET in Dover, DE.

The speech will stream live on the White House YouTube channel, or watch below:

GOP States to Appeal Lawsuit Against Debt Plan

Six Republican-led states will take their lawsuit against President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness plan to a federal appeals court.

Attorneys from Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina sent a notice of appeal to the Eight U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday night. This comes after a U.S. District Judge said that the states failed to establish standing, ruling that "the court lacks jurisdiction to hear this case."

Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said the states will appeal the decision because they "continue to believe that they do in fact have standing to raise their important legal challenges."

The states also asked the district court for an injunction prohibiting the Biden administration from implementing the debt cancellation plan until the appeals play out.

The lawsuit argues that the Biden administration's plan to relief the student loan debt of tens of millions is an overstep of executive powers.

"President Biden's unlawful political play puts the self-wrought college-loan debt on the backs of millions of hardworking Americans who are struggling to pay their utility bills and home loans in the midst of Biden's inflation," Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed in September. "President Biden does not have the power to arbitrarily erase the college debt of adults who chose to take out those loans."

The Republican states argue that Biden's cancellation plan is "not remotely tailored to address the effects of the pandemic on federal student loan borrowers," as required by the 2003 federal law that the administration is using as legal justification. The lawsuit notes Biden's comments on CBS' "60 Minutes" in which he said the COVID-19 pandemic was over.

At Least 8 Million Americans Have Applied

President Joe Biden will deliver remarks this afternoon on his new student loan debt forgiveness plan, just days after its launch.

The application process officially opened on Monday, October 17. Biden said some eight million Americans submitted applications during a test launch the weekend prior, "without a glitch or any difficulty."

"It means more than 8 million Americans are starting this week on their way to receiving a lifechanging relief that they're looking for," Biden said Monday.

The program, announced in August, will cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt per borrower. For those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income, the plan would cancel $10,000 in student loan debt. Pell Grant recipients will get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven, totaling up to $20,000.

The administration says the forms take about five minutes to complete. To apply, go to studentaid.gov.