I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. ACTIVE DUTY DEFERMENT PERIODS COUNTED 

2 TOWARD PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVE3 NESS. 

4 Section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

5 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)) is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through 

7 (4) as paragraphs (3) through (5), respectively; 

8 (2) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding 

9 subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘paragraph (2)’’ and 

10 inserting ‘‘paragraph (3)’’; and 

11 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(2) ACTIVE DUTY DEFERMENT PERIODS.— 

14 Notwithstanding any other provision of this sub15 section, the Secretary shall deem each month for 

16 which a loan payment was in deferment under sub17 section (f)(2) of this section or for which a loan pay18 ment was in forbearance under section 

19 685.205(a)(7) of title 34, Code of Federal Regula20 tions (or similar successor regulations), for a bor21 rower described in subsection (f)(2)(C) as if the bor22 rower of the loan had made a payment for the pur23 pose of public service loan forgiveness under this 

24 subsection.’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ENSURING ACCESS TO CERTAIN HIGHER EDU2 CATION BENEFITS. 

3 (a) DATA MATCHING REQUIRED.—Not later than 

4 one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

5 on an annual basis thereafter, the Secretary of Defense 

6 and the Secretary of Education shall jointly complete a 

7 data matching process— 

8 (1) to identify each individual who, while serv9 ing as a covered employee of the Department of De10 fense, made one or more student loan payments eli11 gible to be counted for purposes of the Public Serv12 ice Loan Forgiveness program under section 455(m) 

13 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

14 1087e(m)); and 

15 (2) without requiring further information or ac16 tion from such individual— 

17 (A) to certify the total period of such em18 ployment for purposes of such program; and 

19 (B) to count the total number of qualifying 

20 payments made by the individual for purposes 

21 of such program during such period. 

22 (b) COVERED EMPLOYEE DEFINED.—In this section, 

23 the term ‘‘covered employee’’ means an individual who, at 

24 any time beginning on or after October 1, 2007, was a 

25 member of the Armed Forces serving on active duty for 

26 a period of more than 30 consecutive days. 


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1 SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

2 Not later than one year after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Sec4 retary of Education shall jointly submit to Congress a re5 port that includes— 

6 (1) an update on the status of the implementa7 tion of sections 1 and 2; and 

8 (2) recommendations for other actions that may 

9 be taken to improve the treatment of members of 

10 the Armed Forces and civilian personnel of the De11 partment of Defense under the public service loan 

12 forgiveness program, including any additional re13 sources or authorities that may be needed to carry 

14 out such recommendations. 

Æ 


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