The Attorney General’s Office of Massachusetts filed a legal brief in Superior Court on Wednesday in support of the Biden administration’s attempts to cancel federal student loans, according to a news release.
The Massachusetts AG’s office said it is leading a coalition of 22 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in two Supreme Court cases involving the debt cancellation plan: Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown.
In August, the Biden administration unveiled a forgiveness program for federal student loans which was later blocked from providing borrowers with relief after a federal court in Texas put the program on hold in November.
The debt forgiveness plan called for canceling $10,000 in debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with ess than $250,000 in income. Pell Grant recipients, who typically face the most financial hardship, would get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.
Citing the COVID pandemic as causing “immense financial harm” to millions of families and borrowers, Acting Attorney General Bessie Dewar stated that the debt cancellation plan will help federal student loan borrowers from “needlessly suffering even more pandemic-related economic harm, including the devastating cascade of harms that follow from default.”
“As state attorneys general, are calling on the Supreme Court to uphold the Secretary’s authority to provide much-needed relief to people across the country who have been affected by this unprecedented pandemic,” Dewar stated in the release.
Joining Massachusetts AG’s office on the brief are attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Attorneys general argue in the brief that the debt cancellation plan is legal under the HEROES Act and that U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has the authority to “prevent student loan borrowers from experiencing grave financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, or the HEROES Act, allows the secretary of education to “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial assistance programs … as the Secretary deems necessary in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency.”
In November, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that 26 million people had applied for debt relief so far and that 16 million people had already had their relief approved.
The Biden administration has extended the student loan payment moratorium from its Dec. 31, 2022, expiration date to June 2023.
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