Republican-led states sue to block Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan [Video]

Seven Republican-led states have sued the U.S. Department of Education to block the Biden administration from carrying out its sweeping new student loan forgiveness plan.

In the lawsuit, the states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota and Ohio — say the department’s new effort to forgive student debt, like its previous attempts, which were blocked by the courts, is illegal.

The states accuse the Biden administration of trying to “unlawfully … mass cancel hundreds of billions of dollars of loans” without approval from Congress and allege that the Education Department already instructed its loan servicers to begin canceling the eligible loans as early as Sept. 3, which would violate timing restrictions around the rulemaking process.

The Education Department is expected to publish the final rule on its debt relief sometime in October. The states say they “just uncovered documents” showing the department could act sooner, skirting federal regulations.

A spokesperson for the Education Department declined to comment …