Arkansas AG Leslie Rutledge on Biden’s student loan handout: ‘Illegal and unlawful actions since day 1’

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to a preliminary injunction to halt the program Monday

Biden's proposed student loan handout program hit another roadblock Monday after the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals halted the plan in its tracks, dealing a blow to one of Biden's integral campaign promises.

As the Biden administration pledges to challenge the proposed program's naysayers, Arkansas Attorney Gen. Leslie Rutledge, R., who has spearheaded legal challenges to Biden's plan, joined "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" Tuesday to share why she is prepared to double down on her opposition to the "unlawful" program no matter what.

"This president has been confused since day one and has taken illegal and unlawful actions since day one, so that statement [claiming Congress passed the program] doesn't surprise me," she told guest host Jackie DeAngelis.

"The president said just weeks before he announced this student loan cancelation program that the COVID emergency was over, yet he wanted to rely on the HEROES Act which is designed for our brave men and women in the military in order to grant this student loan cancelation program," she added.

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President Biden speaks at White House

President Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Friday, Aug. 26, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci / AP Newsroom)

Rutledge maintained that the program is unfair to those who never attended college or attended college without taking out student loans by burdening them with the debts of others.

"That's why the Eight Circuit agreed with us and put this injunction in place and said ‘No more, Biden administration,’" she said.

The plan, which would cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income, has faced challenges from multiple fronts, including the ruling which came days after a Texas federal judge blocked the program.

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President Biden student loans relief

President Joe Biden speaks about student loan debt forgiveness in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Aug. 24 in Washington. (AP/Evan Vucci / AP Images)

"The injunction will remain in effect until further order of this court or the Supreme Court of the United States," the Eighth Circuit court said in Monday's ruling.

Rutledge, supportive of the blocks, pushed back against the Biden administration's pledge to fight legal challenges against the program, telling them to "bring it on."

"If you're going to put in place these illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional programs, we're going to keep challenging them, and we're going to win in the courts," she said.

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"They want to waste taxpayer money by bringing forth challenges on a program that never should've been put in place. What about the 300 million Americans who did not take out these loans, who will be paying for those loans because [the program] is not canceling them, it's not going away. That money is still used, that money is still going to be paid, it's going to have to be paid back by 300 million Americans who never took out the loans to begin with."

Biden's handout plan also received criticism for allegedly being "ripe for fraud" as multiple organizations filed lawsuits in an attempt to strike down the program.

Despite the current halt on applications, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that 26 million Americans have already applied for relief and 16 million have been approved.

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FOX Business' Louis Casiano contributed to this report.