I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3163
To provide student loan forgiveness to the surviving spouses of the victims
of the September 11, 2001, tragedies.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 23, 2001
Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York (for herself, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California,
Mr. OWENS, Mr. NADLER, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. ROEMER, Mr. SHAYS, Mrs.
MINK of Hawaii, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. SCOTT, Mr.
PASCRELL, Mr. EVANS, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. FOSSELLA, Mr. GRUCCI, Mr.
HINCHEY, Mr. ISRAEL, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. LAFALCE, Mrs. MALONEY of
New York, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. QUINN, Mr.
RANGEL, Mr. REYNOLDS, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr.
SWEENEY, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. WALSH, Mr. WEINER, Ms. WOOLSEY,
Ms. SOLIS, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. KING, Mr.
BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. WU, Ms.
DELAURO, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BER-
MAN, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr.
CAPUANO, and Mr. LYNCH) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘September 11 Sur-
viving Spouse Student Loan Relief Act’’.
SEC. 2. CANCELLATION OF STUDENT LOAN INDEBTEDNESS
FOR SPOUSES.
(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:
(1) ELIGIBLE
SPOUSE.—The term ‘‘eligible
spouse’’ means the spouse of an individual who
served as a policeman, fireman, other safety or res-
cue personnel or as a member of the Armed Forces,
or any other individual, who died (or dies) or became
(or becomes) permanently and totally disabled due to
injuries suffered in the terrorist attack on Sep-
tember 11, 2001, as determined in accordance with
regulations of the Secretary.
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of Education.
(3) FEDERAL
STUDENT
LOAN.—The term
‘‘Federal student loan’’ means any loan made, in-
sured, or guaranteed under part B, D, or E of title
IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
(b) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide for
the discharge or cancellation of the Federal student loan
indebtedness of an eligible spouse in the same manner that
the Federal student loan indebtedness of an individual de-
scribed in subsection (a)(1) of this section is required to
be discharged or canceled under sections 437(a),
455(a)(1), and 464(c)(1)(F) of the Higher Education Act
of 
1965 
(20 
U.S.C. 
1087(a), 
1087e(a)(1),
1087dd(c)(1)(F)), as the case may be.
(c) FACILITATION
OF
CLAIMS.—The Secretary
shall—
(1) by regulation, establish procedures for the
filing of applications for discharge or cancellation
under this section, which regulations shall be pre-
scribed and published within 30 days after the date
of enactment of this Act and without regard to the
requirements of section 553 of title 5, United States
Code; and
(2) take such actions as may be necessary to
publicize the availability of discharge or cancellation
of Federal student loan indebtedness for eligible
spouses under this section.
(d) AVAILABILITY
OF FUNDS
FOR PAYMENTS.—
Funds available for the purposes of making payments to
lenders in accordance with section 437(a) for the dis-
charge of indebtedness of individuals described in sub-
section (a)(1) of this section shall be available for making
payments under section 437(a) to the spouses of such indi-
viduals as required by this section.
(e) NO DELAY IN REGULATIONS.—Sections 482(c)
and 492 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1089(c), 1098a) shall not apply to the regulations re-
quired by this section.
Æ