White House Hits Back at Lauren Boebert Celebrating Student Loan Ruling

The White House has hit back at Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert after she celebrated the Supreme Court striking down President Joe Biden's $400 billion plan to cancel or reduce student loan debts for millions of Americans.

The 6-3 decision on Friday said the Biden administration had overstepped its authority with the plan and held that it needed Congress endorsement before undertaking so costly a program.

The court's conservative majority rejected arguments that a bipartisan 2003 law, the Higher Education Relief Opportunities For Students, known as the HEROES Act, gave Biden the power, he claimed, to cancel student debt.

Boebert celebrated the court's ruling on Twitter, saying, "The Supreme Court just blocked Biden's $400 billion student loan bailout."

"Forcing hard-working taxpayers to foot the bill for people that took out students loans knowing they would have to be repaid is UNCONSTITUTIONAL! A college education is a choice, not a requirement."

The White House responded to Boebert's tweet on Saturday, writing that "87,500 of Representative Boebert's constituents would have been eligible for this Administration's one-time student debt relief plan."

Read more: Student Loan Forgiveness Updates and FAQs: Who Qualifies and How To Apply

Biden's plan would have canceled $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 a year or households with less than a $250,000 annual income. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would have had an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

The court's decision leaves millions of borrowers on the hook for repayments that will resume in October, although interest will begin accruing on September 1. Payments have been on hold since the start of the coronavirus pandemic more than three years ago.

The Biden administration has said that 43 million people would have benefited from the debt-relief plan, and 20 million would have had their debt fully wiped away.

Biden has blamed Republican elected officials for causing the dispute that led to Friday's ruling.

"They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses—including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses. And those loans were forgiven," Biden said in a statement on Friday after the court's decision. "But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it."

In remarks on Friday, the president said he would push ahead with a new debt-relief plan, while blasting Republican officials for their "hypocrisy."

"Let's be clear: Some of the same elected Republicans, members of Congress who strongly opposed giving relief to students, got hundreds of thousands of dollars themselves in relief—members of Congress—because of the businesses they were able to keep open," he said.

"Several members of Congress got over a million dollars. All those loans were forgiven. You know how much that program cost? $760 billion."

He added: "The hypocrisy is stunning. You can't help a family making 75 grand a year, but you can help a millionaire and you have your debt forgiven?"

The president said he would work toward a new path for student debt relief using the Higher Education Act. "It's going to take longer, but, in my view, it's the best path that remains to providing for as many borrowers as possible with debt relief," he said.

He also he would work to create an "on-ramp" repayment program that would help ease the risk of default for borrowers who fail to make payments when the current pause ends.