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 Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction 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 pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. ACTIVE DUTY DEFERMENT PERIODS COUNTED 
TOWARD PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVE-
NESS. 
Section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through 
(4) as paragraphs (3) through (5), respectively; 
(2) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding 
subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘paragraph (2)’’ and 
inserting ‘‘paragraph (3)’’; and 
(3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(2) ACTIVE
DUTY
DEFERMENT
PERIODS.— 
Notwithstanding any other provision of this sub-
section, the Secretary shall deem each month for 
which a loan payment was in deferment under sub-
section (f)(2) of this section or for which a loan pay-
ment 
was 
in 
forbearance 
under 
section 
685.205(a)(7) of title 34, Code of Federal Regula-
tions (or similar successor regulations), for a bor-
rower described in subsection (f)(2)(C) as if the bor-
rower of the loan had made a payment for the pur-
pose of public service loan forgiveness under this 
subsection.’’. 
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SEC. 2. ENSURING ACCESS TO CERTAIN HIGHER EDU-
CATION BENEFITS. 
(a) DATA MATCHING REQUIRED.—Not later than 
one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 
on an annual basis thereafter, the Secretary of Defense 
and the Secretary of Education shall jointly complete a 
data matching process— 
(1) to identify each individual who, while serv-
ing as a covered employee of the Department of De-
fense, made one or more student loan payments eli-
gible to be counted for purposes of the Public Serv-
ice Loan Forgiveness program under section 455(m) 
of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1087e(m)); and 
(2) without requiring further information or ac-
tion from such individual— 
(A) to certify the total period of such em-
ployment for purposes of such program; and 
(B) to count the total number of qualifying 
payments made by the individual for purposes 
of such program during such period. 
(b) COVERED EMPLOYEE DEFINED.—In this section, 
the term ‘‘covered employee’’ means an individual who, at 
any time beginning on or after October 1, 2007, was a 
member of the Armed Forces serving on active duty for 
a period of more than 30 consecutive days. 
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SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 
Not later than one year after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Sec-
retary of Education shall jointly submit to Congress a re-
port that includes— 
(1) an update on the status of the implementa-
tion of sections 1 and 2; and 
(2) recommendations for other actions that may 
be taken to improve the treatment of members of 
the Armed Forces and civilian personnel of the De-
partment of Defense under the public service loan 
forgiveness program, including any additional re-
sources or authorities that may be needed to carry 
out such recommendations. 
Æ 
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