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(WASHINGTON) -- Two physician associate groups have sued the Trump administration over a federal rule limiting student loan borrowing for some graduate degree programs that impact healthcare professionals, including physician associates and assistants (PAs), nurse practitioners and other clinical providers.

The American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) and the Physician Associates Education Association (PAEA) filed a lawsuit aimed at reversing a Department of Education regulation that the plaintiffs claim violates the Administrative Procedure Act. They are separately requesting an emergency injunction that seeks to block the rule from taking effect for PA students on July 1.

The complaint also claims that the rule exceeds the Education Department's statutory jurisdiction and is therefore unlawful. The Government Accountability Office website said the Administrative Procedure Act prescribes the minimum procedural steps an agency must follow in its administrative proceedings.

The lawsuit alleges the Education Department overstepped its legal authority by disqualifying a PA degree from being categorized as a professional degree.

The new rule entitled the Reimagining and Improving Student Education-Federal Student Loan Program (RISE) -- which is based on an existing regulation -- finalized the definition of "professional" and "graduate" programs, restricting student loan borrowing limits to $200,000 and $100,000 total for professional and graduate degrees respectively. The $100,000 total cost for PA students is capped at $20,500 annually.

AAPA's CEO Lisa Gables said the rule will have "devastating consequences" for the PA workforce.

"PA programs meet every element of the professional degree definition that Congress established in law," Gables wrote in a statement. "They award entry-level master’s degrees, require rigorous clinical training, and lead to professional licensure in all 50 states."

She added, "We are in court to ensure the law is implemented as Congress intended."

According to the Education Department's final regulation, pharmacy and dentistry are among the list of eleven professional degree programs –- including medicine, law and clinical psychology degrees –- eligible for the $200,000 cap, but teaching, nursing, and physician associates are now capped at the lower limit.

The median PA program tuition is nearly $97,000 for residents before fees and additional costs, according to AAPA.

The recent move is drawing widespread concern from public service advocates as the healthcare groups stress that the federal loan limits will push many students to be dependent on private student loans, which have stricter approval requirements, unfavorable interest rates, and limited repayment plan options.

The rule would harm the associations' ability to provide member services and advocacy and the groups' members would also suffer "negative consequences" if PA students do not have access to the higher loan amounts that allow them to attend PA programs, according to the complaint.

Rory O’Sullivan, at D.C.-based policy think-tank Arnold Ventures, argued that loan limits should be based on degree program outcomes, not what field of study the degree is in.

Wednesday's filing comes as 24 states and Washington, D.C., sued the administration on similar grounds in May, arguing that the rule would widen the nursing shortage because the borrowing limit would disincentivize students from entering the field.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon defended her department’s rule at an annual budget hearing on Capitol Hill last month.

"These particular programs have not been reclassified as nonprofessional," McMahon said during the House Education committee hearing. "They were never classified as professional degrees – that just wasn't a part of the equation."

"There's been no other measure that has been taken to try to bring down the cost of education," McMahon contended.

The Department of Education emphasized that loan caps are "common sense" and place downward pressure on the cost of tuition across the country.

Ellen Keast, the press secretary for higher education at the Education Department, told ABC News in a statement, "For two decades, colleges and universities have been able to charge virtually unlimited tuition, even as many student loan borrowers see little to no return on their investment."

"During this time, tuition has risen faster than any other household expense, and 71 percent of graduates with debt report delaying major life milestones, while institutions have taken in billions at the expense of young Americans' financial stability," Keast said.

She added: "The Trump Administration is working to correct this longstanding imbalance by ending a system that pushed students into debt they often could not repay and by promoting access to high quality education that serves students, not institutional bottom lines."

'My dream of being a PA is probably shot'

Wednesday's complaint said the rule will burden students, like Ben Pinckney from New York, and deter them from applying to PA programs. The plaintiffs said it effectively creates scenarios where those aspiring PAs are unable to afford the cost of attendance because the vast majority of PA students need the higher loan limits authorized for the "professional student" to be able to attend PA school.

Pinckney told ABC News in an exclusive interview he has dreamed of becoming a PA for years but said he’s still struggling to find an affordable graduate school within the student loan caps. The 46-year-old recent college graduate said an emergency room PA saved his life when he was the victim of a shooting years ago and that inspired him to pursue medicine as a profession.

"Not only did he save my life in the physical, but [also with] the conversations we used to have," Pinckney told ABC News, adding "My mentality and my way of thinking changed because of the PA."

Pinckney, who later served in the U.S. Army as a combat medic, said he voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 but believes the Trump administration's rule is "hurting both sides" by making the PA degree harder to obtain.

"It's less about politics and more about helping providers or potential providers get the schooling they need, so that we can go into the communities that we want to go into and help those people," Pinckney said.

PAs treat patients under the supervision of a physician in healthcare settings, including hospitals, doctors' offices, and outpatient clinics, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Advocates stress that the department's decision could strain critical patient care access and the majority of students pursuing PA degrees, who will comprise a significant share of the nation's healthcare workforce over the next decade.

Pinckney said it's heartbreaking because his goal of becoming a healthcare provider – within an already overburdened healthcare system – remains in limbo. "If nothing changes, then my dream of being a PA is probably shot," Pinckney said. "If nothing is done short of someone giving me, you know, a huge grant or scholarship, then this chapter for me is over," he later added.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) -- The Pentagon is increasingly strained by a growing list of unplanned and rising expenses over the last year, with fuel costs emerging as one of the most significant pressures.

Defense Department records show the average price the agency paid for fuel climbed from $154.14 per barrel in October to $195.72 in April – a nearly 27% increase in just six months, documents show.  Those costs are averages across two dozen types of fuels the military uses, including gasoline and jet fuel.

Oil and fuel prices have surged during the Iran war. That surge could saddle the Pentagon with more than $1 billion in unplanned costs this year to power its jets, tanks and other military equipment, based on the department's fuel consumption in recent years. The Defense Department purchases some 80 million barrels of fuel annually.

Commanders are also grappling with surging civilian fuel and commercial airfare costs, adding to the financial strain on a military that depends heavily on both. Troops typically use commercial flights and rental cars to travel to different training events, and are often compensated for miles driven in personal vehicles.

Because of that, travel is being heavily scrutinized, with some formations dramatically reducing travel for training and other events or outright canceling the bulk of it since at least April, multiple U.S. officials explained to ABC News and documents show.

"Current energy market dynamics are increasing fuel costs, which can affect the costs of transporting personnel, supplies and equipment," Lt. Col. Orlando Howard, an Army spokesperson, said in a statement, adding that the service is prioritizing travel and equipment usage to preserve funding for critical operations and readiness requirements.

According to internal documents and multiple U.S. officials, the Army has been forced to make sweeping cuts to training as it grapples with a $4 billion-$6 billion shortfall through the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

That shortfall is attributed to a confluence of factors, including the Iran war, expanding missions on the U.S. southern border, and the National Guard’s ongoing mission in Washington, D.C., which is aimed to double in size to some 5,000 troops for the summer.

Compounding those issues are rising fuel costs, all spurring intense financial scrutiny. The reductions have eliminated dozens of training courses, including programs for medical personnel, engineers and artillery troops. The service has also sharply curtailed helicopter flight hours, limiting many crews to minimum flying requirements, internal service plans show.

But it is not only the Army that is feeling the strain of financial belt-tightening – some of the other services also face unexpected expenses that could impact training cycles.

Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Navy’s Chief of Naval Operations, warned lawmakers in May that the sea service might start running out of money soon.

"You see a large Navy force in the Middle East. So we're burning bright … but it does come at cost, and it comes at operational costs,” Caudle told the House Armed Services Committee, adding that the service will start running out of money in the summer.

“I will have to start making decisions to change training, operations, certification events, those type of things we do to generate our force, in the July timeframe and their current expenditure,” he said.

One internal Army assessment in April found that the financial pain could leave units slated to deploy to Europe next year with what the assessment framed as an insufficient amount of training. The review, which examined the Army’s III Armored Corps – a roughly 70,000-soldier formation headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas – concluded it could take more than a year to restore affected units to their pre-Iran war training levels.

The military's complex web of fuel purchasing provides some protection against market volatility. In many cases, the Pentagon purchases fuel through contracts 18 months in advance.

But those agreements include provisions that allow prices to be adjusted if the market shifts, limiting the department's ability to fully insulate itself from sustained increases.

Fuel prices surged in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, destabilizing markets. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. climbed past $5 for one week that summer, according to federal data. That year, Congress twice gave the Pentagon more money for fuel, totaling $5.2 billion.

Additionally, the Defense Department is using far more fuel this year than it projected when budgets were set more than a year ago, with the Air Force burning through 10% more than it projected it would, Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the chief of staff of the Air Force, told lawmakers in May, amid the ongoing war with Iran.

That could mean the use of hundreds of thousands of gallons of extra fuel. The Defense Department is by far the federal government's largest fuel consumer, burning roughly 227 million gallons of diesel and about 2.2 billion gallons of jet fuel annually since 2021, according to Pentagon data.

Meanwhile, the Marine Corps is not facing any notable funding shortfall, nor has it had to scale back any training, according to the service, though it is significantly smaller than the other branches of the military.

“Annually, we adjust our budgeted spend plans to address various contingencies as they arise, ensuring we prioritize our most critical mission requirements,” a Marine Corps spokesperson said in a statement.

ABC News' Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) -- The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Alabama Republicans to use a contested 2023 congressional map that a lower court last week called "intentional race-based discrimination" in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution.

The move is a significant win for the GOP, allowing the state to eliminate one of two majority-Black districts occupied by Democrats, even as election experts and state administrators have warned of major confusion for voters with the late change.

Civil rights groups lamented the decision as a stark example of the impact of the court's historic April decision in Louisiana v. Callais which rolled back longstanding voting rights protections for minority voters.

In an unsigned opinion Tuesday, the court's conservative majority said the unanimous three-judge panel -- which included two Trump appointee -- in the Alabama dispute failed to apply "updated" standards the justices issued in the Callais decision for proving a political process is not equally open for minority voters.

The court said the panel "did not heed the presumption of legislative good faith" by concluding state lawmakers had "discriminatory animus."

The court's decision concluded that the judges also erred in blocking the 2023 map even though the minority voters challenging it could not provide an alternative map that offered the same political advantages sought by Republicans.

Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey praised the decision, and her office confirmed the state would hold a special primary using the new maps with redrawn districts on Aug. 11.

"The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what I have said all along and that is that Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best," Ivey said in a statement. "Today's decision is a win for the people of Alabama and our elections.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a lengthy dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, accused her colleagues of "unleashing chaos" and "confus[ing] voters."

The map change will require state officials to change the voter registrations of hundreds of thousands of voters in a matter of days and educate them on where to cast new ballots.

"Just as Alabama doubled down on racial discrimination, the Court today doubles down on chaos," Sotomayor wrote. "Because I choose to defend the rule of law and the right of all Alabamians to participate equally in democracy, I respectfully dissent."

In 2024, Alabama had been required to use a map with two majority-Black districts, one of which was won by Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures.

The new map could allow Republicans to flip Figures' seat.

The NAACP slammed the Supreme Court's decision as discriminatory.

"The Supreme Court continues to unleash chaos in our democratic process, and with this latest action, gives Alabama approval to use a congressional map that had previously been found to be intentionally discriminatory," NAACP General Counsel Kristen Clarke wrote in a statement. "This is a Court that is stripping Black voters of power and voice at a speed that would put Jim Crow jurists to shame. Our message to communities remains the same -- the best way to express dissent is by showing up at the ballot box this election season."

-ABC News' Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.

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