Federal appeals court temporarily blocks Biden's student debt forgiveness program
A Federal Court of Appeals has put in place a temporary block on President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness program after granting a stay Friday evening.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with six Republican-led states that sued the administration. The court temporarily halted the program, which would have forgiven up to up $10,000 in debt for eligible non-Pell Grant recipients, until consideration of an injunction is completed.
The administration has until Monday, Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. ET to file an appeal for the injunction.
The White House said the block will not deter them from preparing for moving forward with the program.
"Tonight's temporary order does not prevent borrowers from applying for student debt relief at studentaid.gov -- and we encourage eligible borrowers to join the nearly 22 million Americans whose information the Department of Education already has," press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Friday. "It also does not prevent us from reviewing these applications and preparing them for transmission to loan servicers."
She said the order does not "suggest that the case has merit" but "merely prevents debt from being discharged until the court makes a decision."
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona issued a similar statement following the order, saying the temporary block doesn't prevent the department from reviewing the "millions of applications" it has received since launching the program.
The Court of Appeals decision comes a day after U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey dismissed the suit ruling that the six states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina — failed to establish they had standing.
Biden announced his plan in August and launched the application process on Monday. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said after the Monday announcement that over 8 million borrowers have already applied for loan forgiveness through the "beta" -- or test -- version of the application.
Under the plan, individuals with student loans making less than $125,000 can apply for up to $10,000 of debt relief, or as much as $20,000 for eligible borrowers who were also Pell Grant recipients.
The Biden administration had previously said in court filings it could begin canceling student loans as early as this Sunday.
ABC News' Anne Flaherty, Isabella Murray and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
