BISMARCK, ND - Gov. Doug Burgum today conveyed his support for North Dakota joining a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s unlawful attempt to sidestep Congress and cancel student loan debt at considerable expense to U.S. taxpayers.

The lawsuit, led by the state of Missouri and joined by six states including North Dakota through Attorney General Drew Wrigley, was filed today in U.S. District Court in Missouri. It asks the court to temporarily halt the Biden administration’s action on the grounds that it violates the separation of powers clause in the U.S. Constitution and violates the federal Administrative Procedures Act, which dictates that Congress should decide matters of such high importance and cost – estimated at $475 billion to as much as $1.1 trillion over a 10-year period.

“President Biden’s latest attempt to cancel student loan debt is a blatant attempt to circumvent Congress and defy the U.S. Supreme Court, with the cost falling squarely on the backs of hardworking taxpayers,” Burgum said. “North Dakota’s situation is unique because our state-owned Bank of North Dakota allowed borrowers to consolidate their federal student loans at lower interest rates, and those borrowers – who made a smart financial decision – wouldn’t be eligible for Biden’s bailout, which smacks of unfairness. We are confident the court will remind the president that there are three separate but equal branches of government, and he can’t unilaterally sidestep the other two.”

Also joining the lawsuit were Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Oklahoma.