Here's a closer look at the challenge to President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness plan:Nearly three years ago, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced people from jobs, businesses shuttered and the Trump administration attempted to stave off economic turmoil, White House officials made the decision to temporarily pause all student loan repayments without penalty and accruing interest.
But a month later, lawsuits from conservative groups that opposed debt relief started taking hold -- and chipping away at the program. "As soon as I announced my administration's plan on student debt, they started attacking it, saying all kinds of things. Their outrage is wrong and it's hypocritical," Biden said about Republicans at an October rally at Delaware State University. "We're not letting them get away with it."
Three Republican-appointed judges on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the GOP argument that Missouri would be harmed because a state-created company called MOHELA, which manages student loans, would lose money if debts were canceled. The attorneys argued that if Biden's student loan program decreased revenue for MOHELA, it would then cut into Missouri's own budget for public colleges and universities.