On The Money — Student debt forgiveness plan dealt another blow

President Biden’s sweeping student loan forgiveness program hit another roadblock in court, following a separate ruling that recently halted the effort nationwide. We’ll also look at a key voting bloc that may have helped bolster Democrats’ recent midterm performance, the latest round of sanctions targeting Russia and more.

🏳️‍🌈 But first, is the Senate about to codify gay marriage?

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Appeals court blocks student debt cancellation plan

A federal appeals court on Monday temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program, which had already been halted nationwide by a separate court ruling.

The latest ruling, by a unanimous three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, added to the legal jeopardy surrounding President Biden’s massive debt relief plan.

• The panel, comprised of two Trump-appointed judges and one appointee of former President George W. Bush, said its order would remain in effect until further notice by the 8th Circuit or the Supreme Court.
  

• The ruling was a win for six conservative-led states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina — which argued they were harmed by a freeze on the collection of student loan payments and interest.
  

• The court’s six-page ruling singled out the impact on a large, Missouri-based holder of student loans called the Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri.

The background: The policy, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost about $400 billion over 30 years, has drawn numerous legal challenges. That includes last week, when a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas invalidated the program, saying the presidential action unlawfully encroached on Congress’s power.

The Hill’s John Kruzel digs into this here.

WAGE GAINS?

Low-income voters may have bolstered Democrats’ surprising 2022 performance

Low-income workers who saw a substantial spike in wages amid the pandemic may have helped bolster Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections after they were predicted to endure large losses in Congress.

From early the first quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of 2022, wages for low-income earners far outpaced inflation, according to a new analysis from University of Massachusetts Amherst.

• For the bottom fifth percentile of earners over that period, nominal wages grew nearly 11 percent, surpassing the inflation rate. 
  

• For the bottom 10th percentile, the nominal gains were 9.5 percent for a
  3.5-percent growth in real wages.  
  

• Experts also noted that people have been quitting their jobs more readily in response to changes in pay, indicating a higher degree of worker freedom to pursue better jobs.

Tobias Burns has more here.

MORE SANCTIONS

Treasury targets electronics supply chains in new sanctions against Russia

The Treasury Department on Monday announced a new round of sanctions on Russian military supply chains.

The Treasury said its sanctions target microelectronics imported by Russia that the country uses in its war with Ukraine, specifically ones produced by an Armenia-based company affiliated with Russian electronics producer Milandr.

• The Treasury said the company was a front for the Russian military-industrial base and designated two Swiss nationals in connection with their work for the company. 
  

• The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) also froze the assets of a Taiwan-based company that it described as a front for purchasing microelectronic components from Asian manufacturers.

Tobias has the details here.

DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH

British envoy: UK ‘looking closely’ at trade with US absent major agreement

Dame Karen Pierce, the British ambassador to Washington, says the United Kingdom is not holding its breath for a free trade agreement with the U.S. in the wake of Brexit, a rare thorn in the “special” relationship.

While the Biden administration has eased U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum that were imposed by the Trump administration, further negotiations for a greater free flow of goods between the two countries is unlikely to materialize, Pierce said in a recent interview with The Hill.

• “The British government has said that they understand President Biden’s desire to focus on domestic issues, so we have not got a timetable for pushing negotiations on a free trade agreement,” she said. 
  

• “Instead what we are doing is looking sector by sector at how we might manage to get more trade and investment in both directions, so small- and medium-sized enterprises and digital. … We look very closely at what could be done absent a major free trade agreement to improve movements in both directions,” Pierce also told The Hill.

The Hill’s Laura Kelly has more info here.

Good to Know

Amazon is planning to lay off approximately 10,000 people from its workforce this week, following the steps of other major tech companies, according to a report by The New York Times.

The job cuts will be focused in the company’s technology and corporate departments, which include its retail and human resources divisions and its devices division, which manufactures the popular virtual voice assistant Alexa.

Here’s what else we have our eye on:

• The general counsel for cryptocurrency trading company FTX announced on Saturday that the exchange is investigating unauthorized transactions.
  

• A draft agreement for the international COP27 climate summit includes funds for “loss and damages,” a long-sought provision paying reparations to countries on the frontlines of environmental disaster.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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