H.R. 6597 · 116th Congress
Equity in Student Loan Relief Act
Key: what the circles and colors mean
Each circle is a bill. The ring fills as it moves through Congress:
Under the number: the Yea · Nay count of its final (or latest) recorded vote. On a member's page, the small badge is how that member voted: Y Yea / Aye, N Nay / No, P Present, – Not voting.
Gold and violet are only for Yea and Nay; they never mean a party. A member's party is the letter on their photo.
Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 116th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.
R
StefanikSponsor29 cosponsors · 24 D, 5 R
D
Adams
BF
R
Fitzpatrick
SL
D
Lee
LS
R
Smucker
LT
D
Trahan
PW
D
Welch
BW
D
Watson Coleman
SW
D
Wild
MF
D
Fudge
JK
R
Katko
CL
D
Lamb
JH
D
Hayes
SJ
D
Jackson Lee
DL
D
Loebsack
BT
D
Thompson
MT
R
Thornberry
JH
D
Harder
BF
D
Foster
AF
D
Finkenauer
AL
D
Lawson
CA
D
Axne
AS
D
Smith
KP
D
Porter
RW
R
Wright
JH
D
Himes
AB
D
Brindisi
MC
D
Cartwright
LM
D
McBath
JG
D
Gottheimer7 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.
This bill establishes a temporary program to suspend payments and interest through September 30, 2020, on Federal Family Education Loans (FFELs) that are not held by the Department of Education (ED). (Currently, payments and interest are suspended through this period on certain Federal Direct Loans and FFELs held by ED.)
What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in House · Apr 22, 2020
Equity in Student Loan Relief Act
This bill establishes a temporary program to suspend payments and interest through September 30, 2020, on Federal Family Education Loans (FFELs) that are not held by the Department of Education (ED). (Currently, payments and interest are suspended through this period on certain Federal Direct Loans and FFELs held by ED.)
Specifically, ED must (1) enter into agreements with eligible lenders and guaranty agencies to reduce the interest rate to 0% on FFELs, and (2) make monthly payments to lenders and guaranty agencies to offset the cost of the reduced interest rate.
A lender or guaranty agency that enters into an agreement with ED must (1) temporarily waive interest and suspend all payments due from borrowers through September 30, 2020; (2) suspend all involuntary collections; (3) notify borrowers, within 15 days, that their loan payments have been suspended and interest has been waived; and (4) carry out a program, beginning on August 1, 2020, to provide not fewer than six notices to borrowers that normal payment obligations will resume.
Additionally, ED must deem each month for which a loan payment was suspended as if the borrower of the loan had made a payment for the purpose of any authorized loan forgiveness program or loan rehabilitation program.
Finally, ED must ensure that any suspended payment on such a loan is treated as a regularly scheduled payment made by a borrower for the purpose of reporting information about the loan to a consumer reporting agency.
Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov
About this bill and sources
Official title: Equity in Student Loan Relief Act
Latest action (Apr 22, 2020): Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Policy area: Education · Origin: House · Introduced: Apr 22, 2020
Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)
No recorded floor vote found.