Litigation Update: Garrison v. U.S. Dept. of Ed.: A Challenge to Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness

In August 2022, the Biden administration announced plans to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt per person for more than 40 million Americans. To do this, the Department of Education relies on the HEROES Act which, as an aid to veterans and their families, allows the government to modify student loans during times of war or national emergency. On September 27, 2022, the Pacific Legal Foundation, on behalf of Frank Garrison, filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education to block the Department’s move to cancel more than $500 billion in student loan debt. Plaintiff seeks a temporary restraining order from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana to prevent the loan cancellation from going into effect. Mr. Garrison, as a part of an existing, congressionally authorized Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, will receive debt forgiveness after making 10 years of payments on his loans. The challenged program, however, will, as a result of cancelling his loans, stick him with a new state tax bill which he would not have under his existing PSLF program. Indiana is one of seven states that plans to tax any debt forgiven in Biden's plan, and thus Garrison would owe more than $1,000 in state and local taxes. This Litigation Update from Caleb Kruckenberg will provided a current look at Garrison v. U.S. Department of Education.Featuring --Caleb Kruckenberg, Litigation Counsel, Pacific Legal Foundation --[Moderator] Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Director, Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment and The Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy, The Heritiage Foundation