美国国家公共电台 NPR--The Supreme Court puts Biden's student loan relief program on ice for now

The Supreme¹ Court puts Biden's student loan relief program on ice for now

Transcript²

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in President Biden's student loan relief program in February. The court's action means the rollout of debt cancellation³ will remain blocked until then.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The legal fight over President Biden's student loan relief program has put a lot of borrowers in limbo⁴. And now the Supreme Court is going to have its say.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Yeah. The court announced Thursday that it will hear arguments about the president's plan. They're going to do so in February. That will prolong the uncertainty⁵ for borrowers, who are anxious to see how much of their loans might be written off, if at all. NPR's Elissa Nadworny has been covering all this and joins us this morning. Hey, Elissa.

ELISSA NADWORNY, BYLINE⁶: Good morning.

MARTIN: All right. Give us the particulars of what the court decided⁷ yesterday.

NADWORNY: So the Supreme Court is going to hear a case filed just a few months ago by six Republican-led states claiming the state's loan authorities are going to be harmed by Biden's relief program. The court order is something of a blow to the Biden administration because in the context of this case, the administration had petitioned the Supreme Court to allow them to begin canceling student loan debts even while these various legal challenges were considered in the lower courts. But when the Supreme Court said, yep, we'll hear the case, it also said the administration will have to keep the loan cancellation program on hold. So borrowers aren't going to see their balances go down. Biden's plan, which relieves up to $20,000 in federal student loans for many low- to middle-income borrowers, has faced a number of legal challenges.

MARTIN: Yeah, so let's talk about those because there have been several.

NADWORNY: Yup. And there's been a lot of confusion about, is this all legal? And that's perhaps the biggest reason that the Supreme Court decided to step in and hear the arguments this term. I talked to law professor Luke Herrine at the University of Alabama, who said he wasn't surprised it went to the Supreme Court.

LUKE HERRINE: I think the legal issue is important and difficult enough that it was likely that the Supreme Court would take it up.

NADWORNY: Herrine says the court is going to weigh two things - the legality of the debt relief program and the idea of overreach. So does the Biden administration, does the Education Department have the power to do this?

MARTIN: Right. And that's the central question. That's what Republicans are arguing - that the administration does not have that power.

NADWORNY: Yeah.

MARTIN: So let's just talk about the borrowers, who are really at the center of this. I mean, you nodded to it earlier. They're just going to have to sit and wait, right?

NADWORNY: Yeah, that's right. It's going to keep borrowers in limbo a bit longer. So nearly 26 million borrowers have applied⁸ for some debt to be erased⁹. Sixteen million borrowers have actually had their applications already approved. Madison Mariles, who's a grad student outside Detroit, is one of them.

MADISON MARILES: You get to the point where, OK, we're going to do it and then have it ripped away again. It's like, OK, well, I don't know if this is actually going to happen. OK, now you're just kind of, like, jerking me around. Like, is it happening, or is it not? Like, what is going on?

NADWORNY: So federal borrowers haven't had to make monthly loan payments more or less since the pandemic started back in 2020. But with the debt relief plan in doubt, some borrowers don't know how much they'll need to plan to repay. Sydney Grullon-Matos has $28,000 in debt. She should qualify for up to $20,000 in relief because she was a Pell Grant recipient¹⁰. But now she's sitting here wondering, will she owe back the whole thing or just 8,000?

MARTIN: It's just the waiting game of finding out exactly how much I have to pay off. I just - yeah, I just want to know. Just tell me how much money I'm going to be paying off.

NADWORNY: As it stands now, borrowers will have to start making monthly payments again 60 days after a legal decision or 60 days after June 30, 2023. So it's kind of whatever happens first.

MARTIN: Oh, man, it's tough for those people. NPR's Elissa Nadworny. Elissa, thanks for all your reporting on this. We appreciate it.

NADWORNY: You bet.

(SOUNDBITE OF KIEFER'S "SOCIALLY AWKWARD")

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

4 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

5 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

9 erased   

v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one. 他擦去了错误答案，写上了正确答案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line. 他根除了政治中的教条主义，消除了政党界限。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。