President Biden's new student loan plan blocked by federal appeals court

A federal appeals court blocked the Biden administration’s new student loan relief plan, known as SAVE, on Thursday.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals said in a ruling it would grant a request by Republican-led states to put the full program’s implementation on hold.

Parts of the plan were already blocked by a lower court last month.

Eight million people have enrolled in SAVE, including 4.5 million borrowers who have a zero-dollar payment each month, according to the White House. The repayment plan seeks to lower monthly payments by tying bills to a borrower's income.

“We are assessing the impacts of this ruling and will be in touch directly with borrowers with any impacts that affect them. Our Administration will continue to aggressively defend the SAVE Plan.…we won’t stop fighting against Republican elected officials’ efforts to raise costs on millions of their own constituents’ student loan payments,” White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández said in a statement to ABC News.

The SAVE plan has been in place for almost a year and is the jewel of Biden's surviving student loan efforts -- one that he has touted heavily in his reelection campaign.