President Joe Biden on Friday vowed to continue working to reduce college loan debt for borrowers, despite an adverse Supreme Court ruling, by using a different law this time.

“Today’s decision has closed one path. Now we’re going to pursue another. I’m never going to stop fighting for you,” Biden said in brief remarks at the White House hours after the court’s 6-3 ruling, with the Republican-appointed justices in the majority. “We’ll use every tool at our disposal to get you the student debt relief you need and meet your dreams.”

The debt relief plan struck Friday morning was based on a law passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and was designed to give then-President George W. Bush’s administration the ability to modify debt payments because of a national emergency.

Biden’s White House had argued that the COVID-19 pandemic qualified as such an emergency, but the court ruled that canceling debt entirely went beyond the intention of the 2003 law.

Biden is now turning to the Higher Education Act’s provisions for debt relief, which he acknowledged will take longer to get done than he had hoped.

“This path is legally sound. It’s going to take longer,” Biden said. “I’ve directed my team to move as quickly as possible.”

In the meantime, borrowers will be given a year to get back on track with their repayments, during which time late payments will not be reported to credit agencies. Biden encouraged borrowers to apply for existing programs that forgive college debt for people who enter teaching or other public service professions and limit loan payments to no more than 5 percent of disposable income.

In response to GOP criticism that the program mainly benefited students who attended expensive, elite colleges, Biden pointed out that it was designed to help middle-class and poorer Americans.

“Nearly 90 percent of the relief from our plan would have gone to borrowers making less than $75,000 a year, and none of it would have gone to people making more than $125,000,” Biden said in an earlier statement. “It would have been life-changing for millions of Americans and their families. And it would have been good for economic growth, both in the short- and long-term.”

Biden also criticized Republicans who have almost uniformly opposed student debt relief for imposing a different standard on new graduates who find themselves owing tens of thousands of dollars or more than they did on recipients of COVID-19 relief during the pandemic.

“The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning. They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses ― including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses,” Biden’s statement said. “And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.”

In his afternoon remarks, Biden said the successful lawsuit by Republicans ended the program just as it was about to help millions. “This program was all set to begin. … The money was literally ready to go out the door,” he said.

“These Republican officials just couldn’t bear the thought of providing relief for working-class, middle-class Americans,” he added. “Republican state officials sued my administration attempting to block relief [for borrowers] including millions of their own constituents.”

The idea of canceling student loan debt was a favorite with the Democratic Party’s progressive wing in the 2020 primaries, and Biden was not among its major champions. Nevertheless, he adopted it as a campaign promise heading into the general election, telling voters that he would find a way to eliminate at least $10,000 of debt per borrower.

Even after taking office, he continued to voice worries that he could not cancel debt unilaterally, but he eventually came around after pressure from progressives. The plan he announced last August would have reduced debt for as many as 40 million borrowers making less than $125,000 in either 2020 or 2021, with Pell Grant recipients eligible for as much as $20,000 relief and $10,000 for everyone else.

The court, though, ruled that Biden lacked the authority to simply cancel debt without Congress.

Asked whether his decision to push ahead despite his misgivings had given borrowers false hope, Biden bristled at the question.

“I didn’t give any false hope,” he said. “The Republicans snatched away the hope that they were given.”