Biden’s student debt relief plan will remain blocked, judge orders

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Transcript:

Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.

It was a record-setting Thursday on Wall Street as both the Dow and the S&P 500 closed at record highs. Investors are jubilant with the surprise size of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut. Meanwhile, in a sign of an uneven economy, sales of previously-owned homes drooped 2.5 percent in August, but weekly jobless claims dropped to their lowest since May.

Related: Biden White House erases another $1.2 billion in student debt

In other news, student loan borrowers will have to wait longer to see how much of that debt will be erased. A block on President Biden’s attempt to push through student loan forgiveness was extended by a Republican-appointed judge.

The Biden Administration was hoping to get relief into the hands of tens of millions of borrowers ahead of the November election but the judge’s ruling could make that timeline difficult to reach. The judge says he needs extra time to weigh two competing requests. The Biden White House wants the case thrown out altogether, while a number of GOP-led states have urged the courts to knock-down the forgiveness plan – calling it nothing short of illegal.

The Biden plan that’s on hold would have wiped out $147 billion in debt for roughly 28 million Americans who either owe more than they borrowed, qualify for existing loan forgiveness programs, have a loan from a financially weak institution, or have been paying off the loan for decades but still have balances.

So far, President Biden has overseen $169 billion in debt forgiveness for roughly 5 million Americans.

That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.

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