March 19 (UPI) — The American Federation of Teachers labor union filed on Tuesday sued the Department of Education for blocking student loan relief payments. In its suit, AFT alleged that the Education Department “has chosen to shut down access to all income-driven repayment plans,” and failed to indicate if or when it might restore access, despite orders from Congress for the agency to make them available.
The suit further states that “when designing and modifying the federal student loan system, Congress provided clear and specific directives to the Department so that millions of Americans could repay their loans without being hindered by the debt.”
The result, AFT purported, is that “borrowers are unable to access affordable monthly payment plans, some borrowers are being thrust into default on their debt, and some public service workers are being denied their statutory right to lower their monthly payment and earn credit towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness,” which AFT calls “a critical lifeline for teachers, nurses, first responders, and millions of other public service workers across the country.”
President Donald Trump, in a March 7 executive order, alleged that “instead of alleviating worker shortages in necessary occupations, the PSLF Program has misdirected tax dollars into activist organizations that not only fail to serve the public interest, but actually harm our national security and American values, sometimes through criminal means.”
Trump also purported that PSLF “also creates perverse incentives that can increase the cost of tuition, can load students in low-need majors with unsustainable debt, and may push students into organizations that hide under the umbrella of a non-profit designation and degrade our national interest.”
“By effectively freezing the nation’s student loan system, the new administration seems intent on making life harder for working people, including for millions of borrowers who have taken on student debt so they can go to college,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said.