Protecting Seniors with Student Loans Act of 2018

Protecting Seniors with Student Loans Act of 2018

This bill protects low-income seniors from losing social security benefits due to defaulted student loan debt by increasing the amount of benefits that may be exempted from garnishment by the Department of Education.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3320 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3320

  To prevent low-income seniors from losing benefits due to defaulted 
 student loan debt by increasing the amount of benefits exempted from 
                              garnishment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2018

Mrs. McCaskill introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prevent low-income seniors from losing benefits due to defaulted 
 student loan debt by increasing the amount of benefits exempted from 
                              garnishment.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Seniors with Student 
Loans Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF EXEMPTION FROM ADMINISTRATIVE OFFSET.

    (a) In General.--Section 3716(c)(3)(A) of title 31, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) in clause (i), by striking ``clause (ii)'' and 
        inserting ``clauses (ii) and (iii)'';
            (2) in clause (ii), by striking ``An amount'' and inserting 
        ``Except as provided in clause (iii), an amount''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(iii)(I) For a claim of the Department of Education that is 
subject to collection by administrative offset under this section--
            ``(aa) an amount of $14,196 which a debtor may receive 
        under Federal benefit programs cited under clause (i) within a 
        12-month period shall be exempt from offset under this 
        subsection; and
            ``(bb) in applying the exemption under item (aa), the 
        disbursing official shall--
                    ``(AA) reduce the exemption amount for the 12-month 
                period by the amount of all Federal benefit payments 
                made during such 12-month period which are not subject 
                to offset under this subsection; and
                    ``(BB) apply a prorated amount of the exemption to 
                each periodic benefit payment to be made to the debtor 
                during the applicable 12-month period.
    ``(II) For purposes of subclause (I), the amount of a periodic 
benefit payment shall be the amount after any reduction or deduction 
required under the laws authorizing the program under which such 
payment is authorized to be made (including any reduction or deduction 
to recover any overpayment under such program).
    ``(III) The Secretary of the Treasury shall annually adjust the 
amount of the exemption under subclause (I)(aa) to reflect the change 
in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the 
Department of Labor.''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendments made by this section shall apply 
to the collection of a claim by an administrative offset taken after 
the date of enactment of this Act relating to a claim that arises 
before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act.
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