II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1125 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide Federal Pell Grants 

to Iraq and Afghanistan veteran’s dependents. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 15, 2017 

Mr. KAINE (for himself and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide 

Federal Pell Grants to Iraq and Afghanistan veteran’s 

dependents. 

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 ‘‘Protect Our Gold Star 

5 Families’ Education Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROVIDING FEDERAL PELL GRANTS FOR IRAQ AND 

2 AFGHANISTAN VETERAN’S DEPENDENTS. 

3 (a) AMENDMENTS.—Part A of title IV of the Higher 

4 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a et seq.) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in section 401, by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(k) SCHOLARSHIPS FOR VETERAN’S DEPEND9 ENTS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE VETERAN’S DE11 PENDENT.—In this subsection, the term ‘eligible vet12 eran’s dependent’ means a dependent or an inde13 pendent student— 

14 ‘‘(A) whose parent or guardian was a 

15 member of the Armed Forces of the United 

16 States and died as a result of performing mili17 tary service in Iraq or Afghanistan after Sep18 tember 11, 2001; and 

19 ‘‘(B) who, at the time of the parent or 

20 guardian’s death, was— 

21 ‘‘(i) less than 24 years of age; or 

22 ‘‘(ii) enrolled at an institution of high23 er education on a part-time or full-time 

24 basis. 

25 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.— 


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

2 award a Federal Pell Grant, as modified in ac3 cordance with the requirements of this sub4 section, to each eligible veteran’s dependent to 

5 assist in paying the eligible veteran’s depend6 ent’s cost of attendance at an institution of 

7 higher education. 

8 ‘‘(B) DESIGNATION.—Federal Pell Grants 

9 made under this subsection may be known as 

10 ‘Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants’. 

11 ‘‘(3) PREVENTION OF DOUBLE BENEFITS.—No 

12 eligible veteran’s dependent may receive a grant 

13 under both this subsection and subsection (a) for the 

14 same award year. 

15 ‘‘(4) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—The Secretary 

16 shall award Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants 

17 under this subsection in the same manner and with 

18 the same terms and conditions, including the length 

19 of the period of eligibility, as the Secretary awards 

20 Federal Pell Grants under subsection (a), except 

21 that— 

22 ‘‘(A) the award rules and determination of 

23 need applicable to the calculation of Federal 

24 Pell Grants under subsection (a) shall not apply 

25 to Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants; 


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1 ‘‘(B) the maximum period determined 

2 under subsection (c)(5) shall be determined by 

3 including all Iraq and Afghanistan Service 

4 Grants received by the eligible veteran’s de5 pendent, including such Grants received under 

6 subpart 10 before the effective date of this sub7 section; and 

8 ‘‘(C) an Iraq and Afghanistan Service 

9 Grant to an eligible veteran’s dependent for any 

10 award year shall equal the maximum Federal 

11 Pell Grant available for that award year, except 

12 that an Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant— 

13 ‘‘(i) shall not exceed the cost of at14 tendance of the eligible veteran’s depend15 ent for that award year; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) shall be adjusted to reflect the 

17 attendance by the eligible veteran’s de18 pendent on a less than full-time basis in 

19 the same manner as such adjustments are 

20 made for a Federal Pell Grant under sub21 section (a). 

22 ‘‘(5) ESTIMATED FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—For 

23 purposes of determinations of need under part F, an 

24 Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant shall not be 


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1 treated as estimated financial assistance as de2 scribed in sections 471(3) and 480(j).’’; and 

3 (2) by striking subpart 10. 

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE; TRANSITION.— 

5 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

6 by this section shall take effect with respect to the 

7 award year immediately following the date of enact8 ment of this Act. 

9 (2) TRANSITION.—The Secretary shall take 

10 such steps as are necessary to transition from the 

11 Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants program under 

12 subpart 10 of part A of title IV of the Higher Edu13 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070h), as in effect 

14 on the day before the effective date of this section, 

15 and the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants pro16 gram under section 401(k) of the Higher Education 

17 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a(k)), as amended by 

18 this section. 

Æ 


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