Student loan borrowers beware: Biden and Harris keep making promises they know are a scam

It’s the middle of August, which means back-to-school time for millions of Americans. It also may be a time of year that reminds people about the college loans they have to pay back.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris want you to know they’re on the case, even though they are well aware the ploys they’ve put in place to “cancel” or greatly reduce student debt are unconstitutional and unable to withstand judicial scrutiny.

In recent days, they’ve emailed 25 million borrowers to let them know about other avenues they may have for loan help. Trouble is, the rule that would allow the Biden administration to do this has yet to take effect, and it’s not clear when it will. More on that shortly.

In the meantime, Biden keeps running into legal roadblocks with the various plans he’s already tried to unilaterally put in place to wipe out student debt. He and Harris are doing a great disservice to these borrowers by continuing to offer hope for debt relief that they have no business – or authority – to offer.

No way, San Jose: Harris and Walz champion the Californication of America. Voters should say no.

Courts keep putting a stop to Biden's overreach

Here’s where things stand.

On Friday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction blocking Biden’s massively expanded income-driven repayment plan – the SAVE plan – while the lawsuit moves through the courts. This replaces an earlier, temporary stay the court had placed on the SAVE plan.

In June, two federal judges – both appointees of former President Barack Obama – put a halt to the SAVE plan on the grounds that it is a clear overreach of presidential authority.

Canceled by the courts: Courts keep telling Biden his student loan scam is illegal. Will it stop him? Nah!

And last year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Biden’s first broad attempt of loan cancellation for the same reasons.

It’s likely that these latest cases will land before the high court again.

With this legal wrangling ongoing, Biden and Harris continue to march forward with even more debt forgiveness plans that they have no authority to implement yet, because the proposed rules that govern the debt relief remain just that – proposed.

They’ve sent out emails to millions of borrowers (who also happen to be voters) this month, to let them know about these costly plans they desperately want to put in place in the weeks ahead of the presidential election.

And Biden and Harris want us, American taxpayers, to cover the tab.

What will it take to stop the spending spree?

Our national debt just topped $35 trillion , and it’s irresponsible choices like debt cancellation that are leading to an ever-expanding deficit .

This latest proposed rule would by itself cost the federal government an estimated $150 billion . That’s on top of the hundreds of billions of dollars in loan debt Biden’s already committed to transferring to the American people.

“It’s bad enough that the White House is pursuing costly new efforts to cancel student debt,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in a statement. “They should not be actively evading potential legal challenges in an effort to circumvent the law.”

MacGuineas called the proposal “expensive, poorly targeted, bad for higher education cost and quality” and said it “may well be illegal.”

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Any kind of broad – and expensive – debt forgiveness program should be created by Congress passing legislation, not the president simply issuing an order.

A group of GOP senators recently reintroduced legislation to halt the Biden-Harris administration's plans to cancel debt.

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“Not only are the Biden Administration’s student loan cancellation schemes morally questionable – forcing hardworking Americans who have already repaid their loans or decided to pursue alternative education paths to foot others’ bills – these policies are wildly inflationary, fiscally reckless, and do nothing to actually address the real problem of increasing higher education costs,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said in a statement .

If Harris, the newly chosen candidate to lead the Democratic presidential ticket, ever decides to do an interview or take questions , she should have to defend the administration’s illegal actions and answer for the damage they have caused.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X, formerly Twitter: @ Ingrid_Jacques .

You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page , on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Student loan borrowers beware: Biden and Harris keep making promises they know are a scam