<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
    <item congress="119" measure-type="hr" measure-number="2003" measure-id="id119hr2003" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2025-03-10" update-date="2026-07-30">
        <title>Affordable Loans for Students Act</title>
        <summary summary-id="id119hr2003v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2026-07-30">
            <action-date>2025-03-10</action-date>
            <action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
            <summary-text><![CDATA[<p><strong>Affordable Loans for Students Act</strong></p><p>This bill sets the interest rate at 2% for new and existing federal student loans. (Currently, interest rates on federal student loans range from 6.53% to 9.08%, depending on the loan type.)</p><p>Specifically, the bill directs the Department of Education (ED) to establish and implement procedures to modify the terms of federal student loans held&nbsp;by ED so the applicable rate of interest shall be 2% on the unpaid principal balance of the loan. ED must modify the interest rate without any action from the borrower.</p><p>Additionally, ED must establish and implement procedures to (1) refinance eligible loans that are not held by ED (e.g., privately held Federal Family Education Loans and Perkins Loans) as consolidation loans, and (2) allow a borrower to opt out of this loan refinancing. The bill outlines the terms and conditions of these refinanced loans, including by prohibiting ED from charging origination fees and by setting the interest rate at 2% on these loans.</p><p>The bill applies the 2% interest rate to new loans (i.e., federal student loans made beginning on the first July 1 after the bill's enactment) and also applies this rate retroactively to existing loans.</p>]]></summary-text>
        </summary>
    </item>
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        <dc:language>EN</dc:language>
        <dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
        <dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
        <dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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