Kansas City, Kansas - Two federal judges have struck down portions of President Joe Biden's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan as millions of Americans suffer staggering student loan debt.

Judge Michael Crabtree in Kansas and Judge John Ross in Missouri each ruled in separate lawsuits filed by the states' respective Republican attorneys general, who were seeking to block Biden's partial student loan relief program.

The income-driven SAVE plan, announced last fall, includes a provision that would cancel student debt for people with original balances of $12,000 or less who have made at least 10 years of repayments. People with undergrad loans were due to see their payments reduced from 10% to 5% of their discretionary income.

The Kansas ruling blocks the provision halving payment plans from taking effect as scheduled on July 1.

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The Missouri decision includes a preliminary injunction barring the US Department of Education from cancelling any student debts in full.

Crabtree argued that the White House had not received congressional approval on key provisions of the SAVE plan, while Ross suggested the federal program was unlawfully depriving state loan operators of revenue.

Both judges were appointees of former President Barack Obama.

The decisions sparked swift condemnation from advocates of student debt relief and cancellation.

"Today two different gangs of right-wing Attorneys General got exactly what they were looking for from federal judges in Kansas and Missouri: a recipe for chaos across the student loan system," the Student Borrower Protection Center's Executive Director Mike Pierce said in a press release.

"Millions of borrowers are now in limbo as they struggle to make sense of their rights under the law and the information being provided by the government and their student loan companies," he continued.

"Are borrowers’ bills accurate? Are interest charges correct? Will the amount due today be the same due tomorrow? Will borrowers promised cancellation still receive critical relief? These basic, essential questions have no answers."

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement that the US Justice Department will continue to defend the SAVE plan.

"We will continue to provide this long-overdue relief, no matter how many times Republican elected officials and their allies try to stop us," Cardona added.