To direct the Secretary of Education to deem each month for which certain Federal student loans are in deferment during a period of active duty service as months counted toward public service loan forgiveness, and for other purposes.

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9517 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9517

   To direct the Secretary of Education to deem each month for which 
   certain Federal student loans are in deferment during a period of 
   active duty service as months counted toward public service loan 
                  forgiveness, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 10, 2024

Mr. Courtney (for himself, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, and Ms. Adams) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Armed 
Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To direct the Secretary of Education to deem each month for which 
   certain Federal student loans are in deferment during a period of 
   active duty service as months counted toward public service loan 
                  forgiveness, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. ACTIVE DUTY DEFERMENT PERIODS COUNTED TOWARD PUBLIC SERVICE 
              LOAN FORGIVENESS.

    Section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1087e(m)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (4) as 
        paragraphs (3) through (5), respectively;
            (2) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding subparagraph 
        (A), by striking ``paragraph (2)'' and inserting ``paragraph 
        (3)''; and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) Active duty deferment periods.--Notwithstanding any 
        other provision of this subsection, the Secretary shall deem 
        each month for which a loan payment was in deferment under 
        subsection (f)(2) of this section or for which a loan payment 
        was in forbearance under section 685.205(a)(7) of title 34, 
        Code of Federal Regulations (or similar successor regulations), 
        for a borrower described in subsection (f)(2)(C) as if the 
        borrower of the loan had made a payment for the purpose of 
        public service loan forgiveness under this subsection.''.

SEC. 2. ENSURING ACCESS TO CERTAIN HIGHER EDUCATION BENEFITS.

    (a) Data Matching Required.--Not later than one year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and on an annual basis thereafter, the 
Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Education shall jointly 
complete a data matching process--
            (1) to identify each individual who, while serving as a 
        covered employee of the Department of Defense, made one or more 
        student loan payments eligible to be counted for purposes of 
        the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program under section 
        455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
        1087e(m)); and
            (2) without requiring further information or action from 
        such individual--
                    (A) to certify the total period of such employment 
                for purposes of such program; and
                    (B) to count the total number of qualifying 
                payments made by the individual for purposes of such 
                program during such period.
    (b) Covered Employee Defined.--In this section, the term ``covered 
employee'' means an individual who, at any time beginning on or after 
October 1, 2007, was a member of the Armed Forces serving on active 
duty for a period of more than 30 consecutive days.

SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Education shall 
jointly submit to Congress a report that includes--
            (1) an update on the status of the implementation of 
        sections 1 and 2; and
            (2) recommendations for other actions that may be taken to 
        improve the treatment of members of the Armed Forces and 
        civilian personnel of the Department of Defense under the 
        public service loan forgiveness program, including any 
        additional resources or authorities that may be needed to carry 
        out such recommendations.
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