As Ed pointed out this morning, the Supreme Court just struck down President Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan. That means there are suddenly millions of people who took out loans who were, until today, counting on Uncle Sam to bail them out. Disappointed borrowers are said to be distraught at this idea that they are once again expected to pay their own debts.

Among the most upset about the Supreme Court’s decision are the nearly 20 million people, according to the Biden administration, like Joy Morales-Bartlett who stood to have their debts fully canceled.

“It’s disheartening,” said Morales-Bartlett. “We’ve done the right things this whole time, and we are being punished for it.”

With a remaining balance of $19,000, the 47-year-old former teacher was looking forward to seeing her decadeslong journey toward repaying $89,000 in student loan debt finally come to an end.

Another disappointed borrower, Nick Marcil, racked up $20,000 for an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in education. But he’s not a teacher. Instead he’s now working as a community organizer for a group that seeks to cancel student debt. “Certainly, this is a gut punch feeling, but one by a court that continues to show its illegitimacy and lack of ethics,” he told NBC News. Calling the Supreme Court illegitimate because they are making you pay your own debts is the height of ethics I guess.

Another group that organizes people toward debt forgiveness said there was no justice for borrowers.

“With the pandemic, there’s been an increase in rent, utilities, food, childcare, and basic necessities and now we hear that yet again there is no justice for student loan holders who continue to be burdened by this debt,” the group said in a statement.

With all of the whinging going on, this has become a major political problem for President Biden. He promised debt forgiveness and now activists are demanding he come through on that promise, despite the Supreme Court ruling.

“Student loan relief is a promise from President Biden to more than 40 million families. It is our chance for dignity,” said Melissa Byrne, executive director of We The 45 Million, which has pushed for debt cancelation. “He must immediately implement a plan B including finding a different path to ensure no repayment begins until cancellation is delivered.”

The sure-fire way legally to achieve the same goal – forgiving up to $20,000 in student loan debt for low- and middle-income households – would be for Congress to act.

But Biden lacks the votes for legislative action.

Both bodies of Congress − including the Democratic-controlled Senate − voted to repeal Biden’s student loan forgiveness action, forcing the veto pen of Biden to keep his plan alive before the court’s decision.

So if you can’t do this by executive fiat and you can’t do it through congress, what can you do? I’m not sure but Biden is set to make some kind of announcement about Plan B later today.

President Joe Biden plans to announce new actions on Friday to protect student loan borrowers following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that blocked his plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt, a White House source said.

“While we strongly disagree with the court, we prepared for this scenario,” the source said, noting that Biden would have more to say on the subject later on Friday.

“The president will make clear he’s not done fighting yet, and will announce new actions to protect student loan borrowers,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity…

“We’ll also be making it crystal clear to borrowers and their families that Republicans are responsible for denying them the relief that President Biden has been fighting to get to them,” the source said.

Blaming Republicans isn’t exactly a novel move for Democrats. I’m not sure how he’s going to make that case given that it was Sens. Sinema, Manchin and Tester who made it possible for the Senate to reject his plan.

Moderate Democrats teamed up with Republicans to pass the legislation. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) and Independent Sen. Krysten Sinema (Ariz.) voted in favor of the measure.

Manchin blasted Biden’s student loan program this week as a “reckless” plan that adds too much to the national debt. In a statement explaining his vote, Manchin said it also “forces hard-working taxpayers who already paid off their loans or did not go to college to shoulder the cost.”

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who has previously criticized Biden’s student debt relief, did not cast a vote. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) also did not vote.

Moderate Democrats are happy to let Manchin and Sinema face the pressure but there are often others standing in the background who agree with them. That seems to be the case here.

So we’re about to get Plan B. Will it be enough to silence the whinging of the activists and the borrowers looking for handouts? Stay tuned to find out. Maybe he could mint a trillion dollar coin and use it to pay off all of their loans.

Update: Sen. Warren says “This fight is not over.”

The same Supreme Court that overturned Roe now refuses to follow the plain language of the law on student loan cancellation. This fight is not over. The President has more tools to cancel student debt — and he must use them.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 30, 2023

And here’s President Biden.

Unthinkable.

This fight isn’t over. I’ll have more to announce when I address the nation this afternoon. https://t.co/wGBuwBySB7

— President Biden (@POTUS) June 30, 2023

Chris Hayes had one of the least sensible reactions to the decision I’ve seen today.

Lots of very bad things this 6-3 majority has done, (Dobbs being, imho, the worst), but them deciding you are now $10,000 poorer than you were yesterday is really a helluva thing.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 30, 2023

Funny, today came and I’m not $10,000 poorer. In any case, even he is pointing to the need to move more cautiously going forward.

scotus just struck down his first attempt at cancelling $450 billion in debt so seems like making sure all the legal ducks are in a row on a possible second attempt would make sense?

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 30, 2023

Update: President Biden just finished his brief speech. There was indeed a lot of blaming of Republicans. He also said the Supreme Court’s decision was “wrong.” As for his new plan, he’s going to try again to forgive student debt based on a different law, the Higher Education Act. “This new path is legally sound,” Biden said.

In addition, he’s giving borrowers 12 months (after a three year pause) to get back into paying their bills without the threat of being referred to credit agencies.

His last words before walking away from the podium were, “I think the court misinterpreted the Constitution.”