debt

On Tuesday, the justices will hear expedited arguments in a challenge to the Biden plan brought by six states — Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas and South Carolina.

Instead of health insurance, the Rev. Jeff King had signed up for an alternative that left members of the plan to share the costs of health care. That meant lower premiums, but a huge hospital bill.

“This is a big win for our office and for Americans across the country, and we will keep up the fight," said Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, one of six Republican attorneys general who sued over the loan relief program.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay, ordering the Biden administration not to act on the program while it considers a motion from six Republican-led states — including Missouri and Kansas — to block loan cancellation.

A federal judge dismissed an effort by six Republican-led states, including Missouri and Kansas, to block the Biden administration's plan to reduce student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans.

Six states, including Missouri and Kansas, are arguing that the Biden administration's debt relief plan harms entities that service the loans and treasuries that would benefit from taxes on forgiven debt.

The lawsuit filed by the Republican attorneys general of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and South Carolina argues Congress never approved massive student loan cancellation. It asserts that the Biden administration and the U.S. Education Department aim to misuse emergency authority.

In a letter to Biden, a group of Republican governors said they support "making higher education more affordable" but don't want to "force American taxpayers to pay off the student loan debt of an elite few."

President Biden announced a sweeping effort to forgive up to $20,000 of federal student loan debt for Pell Grant recipients, and up to $10,000 for other borrowers making under $125,000 a year.

In "Profit and Punishment," Tony Messenger dissects the ways in which America is creating a new model of debtors' prison.

Student debt plagues graduates and keeps some people from attending school. Harris-Stowe State University, one of Missouri's historically Black colleges, has joined the effort to alleviate that struggle.

Lorenzo Powell is one of 207 Black Missouri farmers. As he continues the legacy of his family farm into its sixth generation, he's waiting for a response to the injunction against debt relief from the American Rescue Plan.