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Biden administration officials are quietly planning for the possibility that the Supreme Court could strike down President Biden’s sweeping student loan forgiveness program, the Wall Street Journal reported. The high court is expected to issue a decision this month on the plan to eliminate up to $20,000 in federal student debt for millions of borrowers. During oral arguments in February, the court’s conservative majority appeared skeptical that federal law allows the education secretary to wipe an estimated $430 billion in loans from the government’s books. While White House officials maintain publicly they are confident the Supreme Court will uphold the program, some in the administration have expressed concerns in private that the conservative majority will kill it. Administration officials have been discussing policy options that could help the tens of millions of borrowers who are at risk of not getting the loan forgiveness that Biden promised. If the court blocks the program, the Biden administration is unlikely to respond with a new plan to cancel student debt on a large scale using a different legal authority. Though some policy officials in the administration have analyzed alternative legal routes to massive debt cancellation, such a plan, if pursued, likely wouldn’t take shape for many months. Meanwhile, administration officials are discussing more targeted policy options, as well as measures aimed at helping borrowers who will soon be required to resume making payments on their loans for the first time in more than three years after payments were suspended due to the pandemic. Their goal is to be prepared to respond to the potential blocking of the program with an explanation of the other ways the administration is trying to assist borrowers. Biden hasn’t yet signed off on a post-Supreme Court-decision strategy.

A joint resolution to block President Joe Biden's student loan relief proposal cleared the Senate Thursday, but that's likely the end of legislative efforts to scrap the initiative, Roll Call reported. That's because the White House has said Biden will veto the measure, which cleared the Senate by a vote of 52 to 46. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, along with independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, supported the measure, as did every Republican. The resolution passed the House last week, but neither vote drew enough support to override a veto. Despite the legislative wrangling, the ultimate test for the proposal is whether it survives challenges before the Supreme Court, which heard arguments in February. Justices are expected to issue a ruling before the end of June.