GOP-led states sue to block Biden's student debt relief plan again

Catch up quick: The new forgiveness plan, unveiled in the spring, would provide relief for more than 30 million borrowers and includes a provision to cancel up to $20,000 of a borrower's accrued interest.

• The proposal took a more targeted approach to forgiveness than Biden's signature debt relief proposal that the Supreme Court struck down.
• His new plan has yet to be finalized through the federal rule-making process, but the relief was expected to kick in this fall, ahead of November's election.
• In July, the administration notified borrowers they had until Aug. 30 to opt out of the plan.

Driving the news: Republican attorneys general from Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina and Ohio filed the suit Tuesday.

• It alleges that the states "just uncovered documents" showing that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has "quietly instructed" federal contractors to start eliminating debt as early as this week — before the proposed rule to authorize the forgiveness has been finalized.
• The lawsuit alleges the Education Department is seeking to push through $73 billion of forgiveness "overnight."
• "Courts stopped him [Cardona] the first two times, when he tried to do so openly," the lawsuit states. "So now he is trying to do so through cloak and dagger."

What they're saying: Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who led the suit, said in a statement that he has "no doubt" courts will block the plan.

• "They may be throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, but my office is meeting them every step of the way," Bailey said in a news release about the lawsuit.

The other side: A Department of Education spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation, but said in a statement provided to Axios that the department will "continue to follow the law as we work to prepare for possible debt relief this fall, which would only be implemented after the proposed rules first introduced this spring are finalized."

The big picture: The new lawsuit comes on the heels of the Supreme Court declining to lift a block on a separate relief initiative the Biden administration proposed: the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, program.

• The administration's latest round of debt relief in July brought the total loan forgiveness it has approved to $168.5 billion for 4.76 million borrowers.

Go deeper: Biden admin shares proposal for new student debt relief plan