Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB380 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 380
5	5	To prohibit abuse of the authority of the Secretary of Education under
6	6	the HEROES Act in connection with the COVID–19 national emergency
7	7	declaration, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY17, 2023
10	10	Mr. G
11	11	OODof Virginia (for himself, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, and Mrs. MILLERof
12	12	Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
13	13	mittee on Education and the Workforce
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To prohibit abuse of the authority of the Secretary of Edu-
16	16	cation under the HEROES Act in connection with the
17	17	COVID–19 national emergency declaration, and for other
18	18	purposes.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Student Loan 4
23	23	Integrity Act’’. 5
24	24	SEC. 2. PURPOSE; FINDINGS. 6
25	25	(a) P
26	26	URPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to— 7
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29	29	•HR 380 IH
30	30	(1) clarify the intent of Congress with respect 1
31	31	to the authorities provided to the Secretary of Edu-2
32	32	cation under the Higher Education Relief Opportu-3
33	33	nities for Students Act of 2003 (20 U.S.C. 1098bb) 4
34	34	(in this section referred to as the ‘‘HEROES Act’’); 5
35	35	and 6
36	36	(2) prevent further abuse of the Secretary’s au-7
37	37	thority provided under the HEROES Act in connec-8
38	38	tion with the COVID–19 national emergency dec-9
39	39	laration. 10
40	40	(b) F
41	41	INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 11
42	42	(1) As of March 13, 2020, there has been a 12
43	43	moratorium on payments, accrual of interest, and 13
44	44	collections on all Federal student loans. 14
45	45	(2) The moratorium is the largest benefit pro-15
46	46	vided by taxpayers in the history of the Federal stu-16
47	47	dent loan program. 17
48	48	(3) Excluding section 3513 of the CARES Act 18
49	49	(20 U.S.C. 1001 note), this benefit was not explicitly 19
50	50	authorized by Congress. 20
51	51	(4) Since December 4, 2020, the Secretary of 21
52	52	Education has cited the HEROES Act as the au-22
53	53	thority to extend the moratorium on student loan 23
54	54	payments for ‘‘affected individuals’’, in connection 24
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57	57	•HR 380 IH
58	58	with the March 13, 2020, national emergency dec-1
59	59	laration. 2
60	60	(5) The Secretary has undermined the intent of 3
61	61	Congress and abused its authority provided by the 4
62	62	HEROES Act to amend statutory provisions of title 5
63	63	IV of the Higher Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1070 et 6
64	64	seq.) to provide benefits for borrowers beyond those 7
65	65	deemed as ‘‘affected individuals’’. 8
66	66	SEC. 3. PROHIBITION. 9
67	67	The Secretary of Education may not use the author-10
68	68	ity under section 2(a)(1) of the Higher Education Relief 11
69	69	Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (20 U.S.C. 12
70	70	1098bb(a)(1)) to issue a waiver or modification, or to ex-13
71	71	tend a waiver or modification issued before the date of 14
72	72	enactment of this Act, of any statutory or regulatory pro-15
73	73	vision applicable to the student financial assistance pro-16
74	74	grams under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 17
75	75	(20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.) in connection with the national 18
76	76	emergency declared by the President on March 13, 2020, 19
77	77	pursuant to the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 20
78	78	1601 et seq.) (Proclamation 9994). 21
79	79	SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON WAIVERS AND MODIFICATIONS. 22
80	80	Section 2(a)(1) of the Higher Education Relief Op-23
81	81	portunities for Students Act of 2003 (20 U.S.C. 24
82	82	1098bb(a)(1)) is amended— 25
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85	85	•HR 380 IH
86	86	(1) by striking ‘‘Notwithstanding’’ and insert-1
87	87	ing the following: 2
88	88	‘‘(A) A
89	89	UTHORITY OF SECRETARY .—Except 3
90	90	as provided in subparagraph (B), notwith-4
91	91	standing’’; and 5
92	92	(2) by adding at the end the following: 6
93	93	‘‘(B) L
94	94	IMITATIONS.—A waiver or modifica-7
95	95	tion under this subsection may not— 8
96	96	‘‘(i) provide for a period that exceeds 9
97	97	30 days during which— 10
98	98	‘‘(I) payments of principal or in-11
99	99	terest due on loans made, insured, or 12
100	100	guaranteed under part B, D, or E of 13
101	101	title IV of the Act are suspended; or 14
102	102	‘‘(II) interest does not accrue on 15
103	103	such loans; or 16
104	104	‘‘(ii) result in the discharge or can-17
105	105	cellation of any outstanding balance owed 18
106	106	on a loan made, insured, or guaranteed 19
107	107	under part B, D, or E of title IV of the 20
108	108	Act.’’. 21
109	109	Æ
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