I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 893

To provide student loan forgiveness to the surviving spouses of the victims 

of the September 11, 2001, tragedies. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2003

Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To provide student loan forgiveness to the surviving spouses 

of the victims of the September 11, 2001, tragedies.

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 ‘‘September 11 Sur5 viving Spouse Student Loan Relief Act’’.

6 SEC. 3. CANCELLATION OF STUDENT LOAN INDEBTEDNESS 

7 FOR SPOUSES. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

9 (1) ELIGIBLE SPOUSE.—The term ‘‘eligible 

10 spouse’’ means the spouse of an individual who 
2

•HR 893 IH 

1 served as a policeman, fireman, other safety or res2 cue personnel, or as a member of the Armed Forces, 

3 or any other individual, who died (or dies) or became 

4 (or becomes) permanently and totally disabled due to 

5 injuries suffered in the terrorist attack on Sep6 tember 11, 2001, as determined in accordance with 

7 regulations of the Secretary. 

8 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

9 the Secretary of Education. 

10 (3) FEDERAL STUDENT LOAN.—The term 

11 ‘‘Federal student loan’’ means any loan made, in12 sured, or guaranteed under part B, D, or E of title 

13 IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 

14 (b) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide for 

15 the discharge or cancellation of the Federal student loan 

16 indebtedness of an eligible spouse in the same manner that 

17 the Federal student loan indebtedness of an individual de18 scribed in subsection (a)(1) of this section is required to 

19 be discharged or canceled under sections 437(a), 

20 455(a)(1), and 464(c)(1)(F) of the Higher Education Act 

21 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087(a), 1087e(a)(1), 

22 1087dd(c)(1)(F)), as the case may be. 

23 (c) FACILITATION OF CLAIMS.—The Secretary 

24 shall—
3

•HR 893 IH 

1 (1) by regulation, establish procedures for the 

2 filing of applications for discharge or cancellation 

3 under this section, which regulations shall be pre4 scribed and published within 30 days after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act and without regard to the 

6 requirements of section 553 of title 5, United States 

7 Code; and 

8 (2) take such actions as may be necessary to 

9 publicize the availability of discharge or cancellation 

10 of Federal student loan indebtedness for eligible 

11 spouses under this section. 

12 (d) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR PAYMENTS.—

13 Funds available for the purposes of making payments to 

14 lenders in accordance with section 437(a) for the dis15 charge of indebtedness of individuals described in sub16 section (a)(1) of this section shall be available for making 

17 payments under section 437(a) to the spouses of such indi18 viduals as required by this section. 

19 (e) NO DELAY IN REGULATIONS.—Sections 482(c) 

20 and 492 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

21 1089(c), 1098a) shall not apply to the regulations re22 quired by this section.

Æ