Professional threatens legal actions against Trump presidency
President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order that tightens the eligibility criteria for consumers of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness system.
But, student loan authorities told The Fix the purchase may run into legal trouble.
The executive order narrows registration for loan forgiveness by excluding nonprofit agencies that are “aiding or abetting” violations of immigration rules,” supporting terrorism”, contributing to gender-affirming attention, or engaging in a style of “violating state rules”. It argues for groups may not obtain taxpayer funding.
” …it is the plan of my Administration that individuals employed by companies whose actions have a large illegal purpose may not be eligible for common service loan forgiveness”, the order state.  ,
It also directs the education minister to start drafting new rules to update the definition of “public services” to eliminate these organizations.
Preston Cooper, a policy analyst at Washington’s largest center-right think tank, told The Fix that although the program is a pleasant stop, Congress should take immediate action to consolidate the president’s mandate.
” The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program costs taxpayers nearly$ 30 billion per decade and is in dire need of reform. Without intervention from Congress to change the law, I imagine the president’s actions will be challenged in court, as the law paints with a fairly broad brush to establish eligibility for PSLF”, Cooper, at the American Enterprise Institute, said.
He said legislation introduced by Congress to limit recipients ‘ eligibility of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program should also focus on widening the pool of organizations that are excluded from receiving federal loans to include all non-profit organizations.
” I would like to see Congress take action to narrow eligibility for PSLF–not just to exclude the organizations the president mentioned, but potentially all private nonprofit organizations”, Cooper said.
Similarly, Richard Vedder, an economist at libertarian think tank the Independent Institute, told The Fix that he also believes the order is a step in the right direction. However, Trump should eliminate the loan forgiveness program altogether.
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Vedder said that the federal student loan forgiveness program solely benefits public service workers, neglecting those in the private sector.
He also said he has been opposed to the student loan forgiveness program” since day one” and is now “against it more than ever”.
” I think we should be comparably neutral. The only exception of people that can be held to a higher standard are service members, who execute a more dangerous form of public service”, he said.
” Otherwise, I find that reasoning totally inappropriate. If I were Trump, I would eliminate the whole thing all at once”, he said.
Loan forgiveness in general is a bad idea, he said, as anyone who takes out a loan should be responsible for repaying it. This is how things function in the private sector, and it should remain that way.
While some experts have expressed support for changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, others have raised concerns about the potential negative impact of the President’s actions.
Mike Pierce, the executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, told The Guardian that President Trump’s order hinders American taxpayers more than it benefits them.
” The student loan system was broken when President Biden was responsible for it. All we’ve seen since President Trump has come in as an effort to provide fewer rights and fewer resources for working people that have student debt, making the cost of living go up”, he said.
In addition, Aaron Ament, the president of the National Student Legal Defense Network, slammed the president’s proposal by questioning the legality of it in a statement.
” Threatening to punish hard working Americans for their employers ‘ perceived political views is about as flagrant a violation of the First Amendment as you can imagine”, he said.
” If the Trump administration follows through on this threat, they can plan to see us in court”, he said.
Reached by The Fix, center-left organization New America declined to comment. Another left-leaning research organization, the Brookings Institute, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the impact of Trump’s changes to the loan forgiveness program.
MORE: Federal court rules Biden’s$ 500 billion student loan bailout illegal
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: President Trump signs an executive order in the White House, WhiteHouse/X
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