拜登学生贷款减免项目受阻

President Biden's plan to cancel some or all federal debt for students - for 40 million borrowers, actually, this plan ran into a wall late yesterday.

拜登总统取消学生部分或全部联邦债务的计划——实际上，对于4000万借款人来说，这个计划昨天晚些时候遇到了麻烦。

Two disgruntled borrowers filed a lawsuit challenging Biden's plan.

两名不满的借款人提起诉讼，向拜登的计划发起挑战。

And a U.S. district court judge in Texas has now declared that the debt relief program is unlawful and vacated it.

如今，美国德克萨斯州地区法院的一名法官宣布，债务减免计划是非法的，并取消了该计划。

So this is sort of a big deal.

这是一件大事。

Before we get to the implications, can you walk us through the basics of this case?

在我们深入探讨之前，你能给我们讲讲这个案子的基本情况吗?

Yeah. So as you said, it was brought by two borrowers making a pretty unusual argument.

好。就像你说的，这起案件是由两名借款人发起的，他们提出了一个非常不寻常的论点。

One won't qualify for any relief.

一位借款人没有资格获得任何减免。

The other does qualify for $10,000 but is actually frustrated because he believes he should qualify for more.

另一位借款人有资格获得1万美元的减免，但他实际上感到失望，因为他认为自己应该有资格获得更多减免。

The remedy they're seeking, though, is not cancellation of their debts but to stop the government from cancelling anyone's debts, and to essentially start all over again and rewrite the rules of the program.

然而，他们正在寻求的补偿措施不是取消他们的债务，而是阻止政府取消任何人的债务，而是另起炉灶，重写该计划的规则。

So I spoke last night with Persis Yu.

我昨晚和波斯·余谈过了。

She's managing counsel at the Student Borrower Protection Center, which has advocated for debt relief.

她是学生借款人保护中心的管理律师，该中心一直主张减免债务。

And here's how she describes this case.

以下是她对此案的描述。

I like to think about this lawsuit as, like, the toddler problem.

我喜欢把这起诉讼案看成小孩的问题。

If I can't have it, you can't have it either.

如果我得不到，你也得不到。

And that's not how the law works. And it's not how the courts should apply the law.

这不是法律运行的方式。这也不应该是法院贯彻法律的方式。

But here's the thing, Rachel. This case is not just about these two borrowers.

但事情是这样的，瑞秋。这个案子不仅仅与这两个借款人有关。

It is also a big-picture fight over government and the separation of powers.

这也是一场围绕政府和三权分立的大斗争。

The conservative legal group behind this suit argues President Biden cannot just wipe away $400 billion in student loan debt.

这起诉讼背后的保守法律团体认为，拜登总统不能简单地抹去4000亿美元的学生贷款债务。

Only Congress can do that. And for him to do it without Congress, they argue, is unlawful.

只有国会可以这么做。他们认为，他在没有国会批准的情况下这样做是非法的。

Though, of course, the Biden administration says lawmakers did give it the authority to erase student debt when they passed a law called the HEROES Act.

当然，拜登政府表示，立法者在通过一项名为“英雄法案”的法律时，确实赋予了政府消除学生债务的权力。

OK. So what did this judge say?

好。法官怎么说?

So Judge Mark T. Pittman, who was appointed by former President Trump, doesn't buy the administration's reading of the HEROES Act.

前总统特朗普任命的马克·皮特曼法官并不认同拜登政府对“英雄法案”的解读。

Instead, he wrote that Biden's debt relief program is a complete usurpation of congressional authority by the executive branch.

相反，他写道，拜登的债务减免计划是行政部门对国会权力的完全篡夺。

The judge even quoted James Madison in the Federalist Papers writing, the accumulation of all powers - legislative, executive and judiciary - in the same hands may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.

这位法官甚至引用《联邦党人文集》中詹姆斯·麦迪逊的话: “所有的权力，立法、行政和司法权集聚于同一人之手，都可正当的断定这就是暴政。”

What's most interesting about Pittman's ruling, though, is that he condensed a lot of legal process here, including whether to issue, you know, some sort of temporary block on debt relief.

不过，皮特曼的裁决中最有趣的是，他压缩了很多法律程序，包括是否发布某种临时的债务减免禁令。

And instead, he went big and vacated the entire program.

相反，他搞得很大，清空了整个项目。

So what does that mean for all the people, all the borrowers who've already started their online documents to get their debt relieved?

那么这对所有人，对所有已经开始实施网上文件来减轻债务的借款人意味着什么?

Well, at the very least, it means they're still waiting.

嗯，至少，这说明他们还在等待。

This is a big setback, Rachel, for those borrowers and for the Biden administration's program.

蕾切尔，这对借贷人和拜登政府的项目来说都是一个重大挫折。

Vacating it doesn't just pause it or block it, it would essentially unwind it.

清空项目不是说暂停或阻拦项目，本质上是解除项目。

In response, though, we know Biden administration has already appealed the decision.

为了应对此事，我们知道拜登政府已经决定提出上诉。

We got confirmation of that last night from the White House.

我们昨晚从白宫得到了确认。

Then again, I should also make clear, like, an appeal is going to go to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a reputation for being the most conservative federal appeals court in the country.

我也应该说清楚，一起申诉将送至第五巡回上诉法院，该法院以是全国最保守的联邦上诉法院而闻名。

From there, another appeal would land this case at the Supreme Court.

而那时起，另一起申诉将会把这个案子送到最高法院。

It's hard to know what the timeline is here for clarity, could be weeks.

很难知道具体的时间安排，可能需要几周时间。

Keep in mind, though - this is important.

记住，这很重要。

Lots of borrowers know this, don't need to be reminded.

很多借款人都知道这一点，不需要提醒。

Student loan payments are also set to restart in a matter of weeks come January.

学生贷款也将在明年距离1月还有几周时重启。