House Republicans vote to end Biden's student debt relief efforts

May 25 (UPI) -- House Republicans took a step to end President Joe Biden's effort to cancel student debt by voting along party lines to end his relief program that dates back to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two Democrats -- Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington -- stood with Republicans in their 218-203 vote the stop Biden's student debt relief program that is currently facing court challenges.

Biden's program cancels loans from $10,000 and $20,000 for borrowers whose income falls below certain levels or who have received a Pell Grant. Republicans would also stop Biden's pandemic-era pause on loan payments and interest accrual.

"President Biden's student loan transfer scheme shifts hundreds of billions of dollars of payments from student loan borrowers onto the backs of the American people," Rep. Bob Good said in a statement. "I am pleased that my Republican colleagues overwhelmingly supported legislation on the House floor today."

The Biden administration pushed back on the House resolution, saying that students still need the aid despite the status of the pandemic.

"This resolution is an unprecedented attempt to undercut our historic economic recovery and would deprive more than 40 million hard-working Americans of much-needed student debt relief," the administration said.

The resolution, though, would have little chance to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate or a veto by Biden himself it reaches his presidential desk.

In February, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in cases that challenge Biden's student loan forgiveness program.

During the questioning, the justices were considering the legal standing of plaintiffs to challenge the Department of Education's plan, and they were seeking to determine whether the plan falls within the authority of the secretary of education.