Student Loan Accountability Act

Bill: 118-s-4815
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Romney, Mitt [R-UT]
Introduced: 2024-07-25
Policy area: Education
Latest action: action_date: 2024-07-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Summaries:
action_date: 2024-07-25
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Student Loan Accountability Act</strong></p><p>This bill generally prohibits the Departments of Education, Justice, or the Treasury from taking any action to cancel or forgive the outstanding balances, or portion of balances, of covered loans. <em>Covered loans</em> refer to Federal Family Education Loans, Federal Direct Loans, Federal Perkins Loans, and loans under the Health Education Assistance Loan Program.</p><p>The prohibition does not apply to targeted federal student loan forgiveness, cancellation, or repayment programs that are in effect by final regulation on May 11, 2022, and carried out under the Higher Education Act of 1965.</p>

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4815 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 25, 2024 Mr. Romney (for himself, Mr. Cassidy , Mr. Tillis , and Mr. Scott of South Carolina ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To prohibit the mass cancellation of student loans.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Student Loan Accountability Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Congress does not hide elephants in mouseholes; statutory authority has not been provided to the executive branch of the Federal Government to cancel student loans on a mass scale. (2) In 2023, the Supreme Court struck down the Biden Administration’s attempt at mass cancellation of student loans in Biden v. Nebraska, 600 U.S. 477 (2023), concluding that [t]he basic and consequential tradeoffs inherent in a mass debt cancellation program are ones that Congress would likely have intended for itself and . . . our precedent—old and new—requires that Congress speak clearly before a Department Secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy. . (3) It is unfair for taxpayers who already paid their student loans, chose not to pursue higher education, or worked hard to pay for their education without taking on student loan debt, to foot the bill of millions of borrowers. 3. Prohibition on mass cancellation of student loans (a) Prohibition (1) In general Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of the Treasury, or the Attorney General shall not take any action to cancel or forgive the outstanding balances, or portion of balances, of covered loans, except as provided in paragraph (2). (2) Exemption The prohibition described in paragraph (1) shall not apply to targeted Federal student loan forgiveness, cancellation, or repayment programs carried out under the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. ), under final regulations as in effect on May 11, 2022. (b) Definitions In this section, the term covered loan means— (1) a loan made, insured, or guaranteed under part B, D, or E of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1071 et seq. ; 1087a et seq.; 1087aa et seq.) before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act; or (2) a loan under the Health Education Assistance Loan Program under title VII of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 292 et seq. ) made before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act. (c) Limitation The Secretary of Education, the Secretary of the Treasury, or the Attorney General may not implement, or publish in any form, any regulation, or take any action, that modifies, alters, amends, cancels, discharges, forgives, or defers the repayment of any student debt not expressly permitted within statute or regulation as in effect on March 12, 2020, regarding covered loans, except to the extent that such regulation or action reflects the clear and unequivocal intent of Congress in legislation.