IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3598 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 11, 2020 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

AN ACT 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to automatically discharge the loans of certain veteran borrowers, 

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. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federally Requiring 

3 Earned Education-debt Discharges for Vets Act’’ or the 

4 ‘‘FREED Vets Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC LOAN DISCHARGE FOR CERTAIN VET6 ERAN BORROWERS. 

7 Section 437(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

8 (20 U.S.C. 1087(a)) is amended— 

9 (1) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(2) DISABILITY DETERMINATIONS.—With re12 spect to a borrower who has been identified under 

13 clause (i) or (ii) of paragraph (4)(A), the Secretary 

14 shall— 

15 ‘‘(A) consider the borrower permanently 

16 and totally disabled for the purpose of dis17 charging the loans of the borrower under this 

18 subsection; 

19 ‘‘(B)(i) notify the borrower of the intent of 

20 the Secretary to discharge the loans of the bor21 rower under this subsection; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) only if section 108(f)(5) of the Inter23 nal Revenue Code of 1986 does not apply to 

24 such a loan discharge for the calendar year, in25 clude as part of such notice a statement inform26 ing the borrower that such loan discharge may 


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HR 3598 RFS

1 be includible in the gross income of the bor2 rower for purposes of such Code; 

3 ‘‘(C) provide the borrower with an oppor4 tunity to opt-out of such loan discharge during 

5 the 60 day period beginning on the date on 

6 which the Secretary transmits the notice re7 quired under subparagraph (B) to the borrower; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(D) after the expiration of such period, 

10 discharge the loans of the borrower under this 

11 subsection, without any further action by the 

12 borrower (except that this subparagraph shall 

13 not apply to a borrower who opts out of such 

14 discharge under subparagraph (C)).’’; and 

15 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(4) MATCHING PROGRAM.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not less than twice 

18 per year, the Secretary of Education and the 

19 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out a 

20 computer matching program under which the 

21 Secretary of Education identifies a borrower— 

22 ‘‘(i) who has been assigned a rating of 

23 total disability by the Secretary of Vet24 erans Affairs for a service-connected disVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Mar 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3598.RFS H3598

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1 ability (as defined in section 101 of title 

2 38, United States Code); or 

3 ‘‘(ii) who has been determined by the 

4 Secretary of Veterans Affairs to be unem5 ployable due to a service-connected condi6 tion. 

7 ‘‘(B) MINOR DISCREPANCIES.—With re8 spect to each borrower who would have been 

9 identified under clause (i) or (ii) of subpara10 graph (A) but for a minor discrepancy between 

11 the information of the borrower maintained by 

12 the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of 

13 Veterans Affairs (such as a name discrepancy 

14 post-marriage, a missing hyphen, a transposed 

15 number or letter, or other typo), the Secretary 

16 of Education and the Secretary of Veterans Af17 fairs shall work together to correct such minor 

18 discrepancy of such borrower.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 10, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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