Video above: Nebraska, five other states sue to stop student loan forgiveness plan

The head of the Department of Education vowed Saturday to continue “full speed ahead” on plans to implement President Joe Biden’s student debt relief program, a day after a federal appeals court temporarily halted it, barring the administration from canceling covered loans under the policy while it is pending.

In an article published Saturday, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona doubled down on the administration’s commitment to student debt relief and encouraged those eligible to continue applying through the online application.

“With some Republicans trying to block the Biden administration’s debt relief program, the department is moving at full speed to legally execute our program so we can help the borrowers who need it most,” Cardona wrote in the U.S. . today.

“Already 22 million people have provided the department with the necessary information needed to verify their eligibility for student debt relief. We encourage borrowers to continue to apply for debt relief at studentaid.gov,” he continued.

Video above: Biden says nearly 22 million have applied for student loan help

In pairs video posted on TwitterCardona cited “baseless” lawsuits brought by Republican-led states to shut down the program.

Cardona stressed that nearly 90 percent of the debt relief plan’s benefits would go to those making less than $75,000 a year. according to estimates from the Department of Education. He also highlighted arguments from Republicans who, Cardona argued, did not file lawsuits when they took advantage of the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program loans.

“It’s only when relief comes to working and middle-class Americans that these elected officials have problems,” Cardona argued in his op-ed.

“This program will help borrowers by providing relief after the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic. President Biden and this administration will never stop fighting for millions of hardworking students and borrowers across the country — no matter how many elected officials or lawsuits try to stop us,” Cardona added.

Late Friday, a federal appeals court imposed a temporary administrative stay on Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, preventing the government from canceling loans covered by the policy while the court hears a challenge to it.

Video Above: Scammers Target Borrowers Applying For Student Debt Relief

The order from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes in a case brought by six Republican-led states seeking a preliminary injunction to end the policy after a district court dismissed the case earlier this week. The effort is separate from a challenge to the program by a group of Wisconsin taxpayers that was recently struck down by the Supreme Court.

The appeals court gave the administration until Monday to respond to the states’ request, and the states have until Tuesday to respond. The states asked the appeals court to act by Sunday, the earliest date the Biden administration has said it would allow for student loan discharge.

Following Friday’s ruling, the White House urged borrowers to continue applying for aid despite the delay.

The lawsuit, which was filed last month, was dismissed on Oct. 20 by a lower court judge who ruled that the plaintiffs did not have standing to file a challenge, CNN previously reported.

The Biden administration also faced lawsuits from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and conservative groups such as the Job Creators Network Foundation and the Cato Institute.

Many of the legal challenges argue that the Biden administration does not have the legal authority to broadly cancel student loan debt.

Government lawyers say Congress gave the education secretary authority to pay off the debt in a 2003 law known as the HEROES Act, CNN previously reported.

Video above: Student debt forgiveness application open

Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, first announced in August, aims to provide debt relief for millions of borrowers before federal student loan payments resume in January after a nearly three-year pause due to the pandemic.

Under Biden’s plan, individual borrowers who earned less than $125,000 in 2020 or 2021 and married couples or heads of households who earned less than $250,000 a year in those years would have up to $10,000 forgiven federal student loan.

If a qualifying borrower also received a federal Pell Grant while attending college, the individual is eligible for up to $20,000 in debt forgiveness.