I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2661 

To make careers in public service more feasible for students with high 

educational debt. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 11, 2007 

Mr. SARBANES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To make careers in public service more feasible for students 

with high educational debt. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Education for Public 

5 Service Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Nation benefits greatly from the con9 tributions of persons who obtain higher education, 

10 including graduate and professional degrees, and 


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1 then devote much of their careers to public service. 

2 High educational debt is an impediment that dis3 courages borrowers from pursuing low-paying public 

4 service employment. 

5 (2) In 1993, Congress created the income-con6 tingent loan repayment option to help high-debt bor7 rowers to have lower-paying public service careers. 

8 (3) This plan has not yet succeeded in removing 

9 the barriers to public service created by high edu10 cational debt. The principal problem is that bor11 rowers who elect this option do not receive debt for12 giveness until they have been paying for 25 years. 

13 Graduates are unable to contemplate such a long pe14 riod of repayment before their educational debts are 

15 forgiven. Many of them expect to be helping to pay 

16 for their children’s education within that period. 

17 (4) The goal of income-contingent repayment 

18 can be better achieved by reducing the option’s pe19 riod after which loans are forgiven for borrowers 

20 who have made ten years of monthly repayments on 

21 their loans while serving in full time jobs in govern22 mental or non-profit agencies. 

23 (5) Some borrowers are discouraged from using 

24 the income-contingent repayment option because it 

25 includes a severe ‘‘marriage penalty.’’ It attributes 


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1 the incomes of both spouses to each borrower 

2 spouse, so that when a borrower marries, the 

3 amount of repayment due under the option is vastly 

4 increased. The option can be made more equitable 

5 by attributing only half of the income of a couple to 

6 each spouse. 

7 (6) Making adjustments to the income-contin8 gent repayment option will improve access to higher 

9 education opportunities and will enable more grad10 uates to work in public service. 

11 SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE INCOME-CONTINGENT RE12 PAYMENT OPTION. 

13 (a) FORGIVENESS FOR PUBLIC SERVICE.—Section 

14 455(e) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

15 1087e(e)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(7) REPAYMENT PLAN FOR PUBLIC SECTOR

17 EMPLOYEES.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

19 forgive the balance due on any loan made under 

20 this part or section 428C(b)(5) for a bor21 rower— 

22 ‘‘(i) who has made 120 payments on 

23 such loan pursuant to income contingent 

24 repayment; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) who was employed for the ten2 year period during which the borrower 

3 made the 120 payments described in clause 

4 (i), in a public sector job. 

5 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC SECTOR JOB.—In this para6 graph, the term ‘public sector job’ means a full7 time job in which the employer is a Federal, 

8 State, or local government agency or intergov9 ernmental authority, or an organization that is 

10 described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 

11 Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax12 ation under section 501(a) of such Act. 

13 ‘‘(8) RETURN TO STANDARD REPAYMENT.—A 

14 borrower who is repaying a loan made under this 

15 part or section 428C(b)(5) may choose, at any time, 

16 to terminate repayment pursuant to income contin17 gent repayment and repay such loan under the 

18 standard repayment plan.’’. 

19 (b) TREATMENT OF MARRIED BORROWER’S IN20 COME.—Section 455(e)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 

21 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(e)(2)) is amended by striking the 

22 phrase ‘‘on the adjusted gross income of the borrower and 

23 the borrower’s spouse’’ and inserting the phrase ‘‘on half 


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1 of the total of the adjusted gross income of the borrower 

2 and the adjusted gross income of the borrower’s spouse’’. 

Æ 


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