"Today, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt joined five other states in filing a challenge to the Biden Administration’s student loan cancellation program in federal court in Missouri,'' the statement read.
The group, which also includes the states of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Carolina, asks the court for an immediate temporary restraining order to pause the program.
"Prompt relief is being sought because the Biden Administration has indicated it will start cancelling loan balances as early as next week," the statement added.
The White House announced last month that student loan payments will resume next year and at least $10,000 of student loan debt will be canceled for each eligible borrower. An additional $10,000 of debt will be canceled for eligible borrowers who also received a federal Pell grant.
"The Biden Administration’s executive action to cancel student loan debt was not only unconstitutional, it will unfairly burden working class families and those who chose not to take out loans or have paid them off with even more economic woes," Schmitt said. "The Biden Administration’s unlawful edict will only worsen inflation at a time when many Americans are struggling to get by."
The lawsuit said that the Biden administration acted without congressional approval.
"Determined to pursue across-the-board debt cancellation and stymied by repeated failures to achieve that goal through legislation, the Administration resorted to a federal law whose purpose is to provide relief to individuals who have suffered from an emergency like the 9/11 terrorist attacks or who must serve their country overseas in the military," the document said.
The overall cost of implementing this initiative could rise to more than $1 trillion, according to the lawsuit.
The new suit is the second attempt to dispute Biden’s initiative in several days. The Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit libertarian law firm, filed a similar suit with the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on Tuesday.