Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said Friday that the Biden administration's second swing at student loan forgiveness is just as illegal as their first try, telling Newsmax that it's quite "brazen" for the president to flout the Supreme Court's first ruling.
Kobach on Thursday led a coalition of 11 states that filed suit against the Biden administration over its Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, which he said is a cynical attempt to "buy votes."
"What the Biden administration is doing is really extraordinary. And I think we haven't seen anything like this since the Civil War era, where a Supreme Court decision is handed down, and then the president says, 'Well, too bad, we're going to press forward anyway,'" Kobach told "The Chris Salcedo Show." "To quote the president, quote, 'the Supreme Court blocked it, but that didn't stop me,' end quote."
"They've just repackaged virtually the same student loan forgiveness plan, which appears to be a brazen attempt to buy votes, and it's equally illegal," said Kobach, who also led the first successful legal challenge against President Joe Biden's loan forgiveness in 2023.
Kobach's lawsuit claims Biden overstepped his authority in canceling loans for more than 150,000 under the SAVE Plan.
"The first one the Supreme Court struck down because the Biden administration said, 'We're just modifying student loans,' and the term modified does appear in federal law. But the Supreme Court said, 'No, you're not. You're forgiving the loans. You're canceling the loans.' This time around, they're saying, 'Oh, we're not forgiving or canceling, we're just changing the terms of loan repayment,' which is also allowed by the law.
"But Chris, you and I know if we go to a bank and ask to change the terms of loan repayment, that means a five-year loan might become a 10-year loan and the rate of interest might be different. But we still have to repay the principal," Kobach explained.
"The Biden administration is forgiving the principal and converting the majority of the student loans that exist into zero balance. In other words, completely canceling the loan," he added.
"So it is illegal, just as illegal as the first try, and it's really shocking that we have a president doing this right after the Supreme Court said no the first time."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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