[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 10, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H1575-H1577]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   FEDERALLY REQUIRING EARNED EDUCATION-DEBT DISCHARGES FOR VETS ACT

  Mrs. LEE of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 3598) to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to 
automatically discharge the loans of certain veteran borrowers, and for 
other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3598

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Federally Requiring Earned 
     Education-debt Discharges for Vets Act'' or the ``FREED Vets 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC LOAN DISCHARGE FOR CERTAIN VETERAN 
                   BORROWERS.

       Section 437(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
     U.S.C. 1087(a)) is amended--
       (1) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
       ``(2) Disability determinations.--With respect to a 
     borrower who has been identified under clause (i) or (ii) of 
     paragraph (4)(A), the Secretary shall--
       ``(A) consider the borrower permanently and totally 
     disabled for the purpose of discharging the loans of the 
     borrower under this subsection;
       ``(B)(i) notify the borrower of the intent of the Secretary 
     to discharge the loans of the borrower under this subsection; 
     and
       ``(ii) only if section 108(f)(5) of the Internal Revenue 
     Code of 1986 does not apply to such a loan discharge for the 
     calendar year, include as part of such notice a statement 
     informing the borrower that such loan discharge may be 
     includible in the gross income of the borrower for purposes 
     of such Code;
       ``(C) provide the borrower with an opportunity to opt-out 
     of such loan discharge during the 60 day period beginning on 
     the date on which the Secretary transmits the notice required 
     under subparagraph (B) to the borrower; and
       ``(D) after the expiration of such period, discharge the 
     loans of the borrower under this subsection, without any 
     further action by the borrower (except that this subparagraph 
     shall not apply to a borrower who opts

[[Page H1576]]

     out of such discharge under subparagraph (C)).''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(4) Matching program.--
       ``(A) In general.--Not less than twice per year, the 
     Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
     shall carry out a computer matching program under which the 
     Secretary of Education identifies a borrower--
       ``(i) who has been assigned a rating of total disability by 
     the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for a service-connected 
     disability (as defined in section 101 of title 38, United 
     States Code); or
       ``(ii) who has been determined by the Secretary of Veterans 
     Affairs to be unemployable due to a service-connected 
     condition.
       ``(B) Minor discrepancies.--With respect to each borrower 
     who would have been identified under clause (i) or (ii) of 
     subparagraph (A) but for a minor discrepancy between the 
     information of the borrower maintained by the Secretary of 
     Education and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (such as a 
     name discrepancy post-marriage, a missing hyphen, a 
     transposed number or letter, or other typo), the Secretary of 
     Education and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall work 
     together to correct such minor discrepancy of such 
     borrower.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Nevada (Mrs. Lee) and the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Watkins) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Nevada.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. LEE of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 3598, the FREED Vets 
Act.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Nevada?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. LEE of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise in strong support of H.R. 3598, the Federally Requiring Earned 
Education-Debt Discharges for Vets Act or FREED Vets Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Conor Lamb, Brian Fitzpatrick, 
and all the other coleads for their work to ensure that those who have 
served our Nation, and are now totally and permanently disabled, do not 
face additional burden to get relief from their student loan debt.
  This legislation will improve the lives of nearly 40,000 veterans who 
have a service-related disability by requiring the Secretary of 
Education to automatically discharge their Federal student loan debt.
  The Higher Education Act of 1965 requires the Secretary of Education 
to discharge the Federal student loans of individuals who are totally 
and permanently disabled but does not establish a process. For too 
long, veterans with a service-connected disability have fallen through 
the cracks. Because of that, they have been forced to navigate a 
complicated and confusing system, while being straddled with debt. We 
owe our disabled veterans a better option.
  So, in 2018, the Department of Education launched a data-sharing 
initiative with the Department of Veterans Affairs to identify 
borrowers eligible for relief from their student loan debt.

                              {time}  1315

  In 2019, the Department of Education started to automize loan 
discharge for these veterans, but it has been stalled. This bill will 
require the Secretary to continue matching borrowers with data from 
Veterans Affairs to identify and automatically discharge the debt of 
matched individuals, eliminating burden on our veterans.
  These brave individuals who served our country and are now totally 
and permanently disabled should not have to carry the burden of their 
debt, especially when we have the information and the ability to 
eliminate all sorts of bureaucratic and, quite frankly, unnecessary red 
tape.
  I am proud to support this legislation which creates a clear process 
for disabled veterans to receive the relief they are entitled to under 
the law.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WATKINS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3598, the Federally 
Requiring Earned Education-debt Discharges for Vets Act, or the FREED 
Vets Act. This bill would cancel student loan debt for some eligible 
veterans.
  H.R. 3598 would remove administrative obstacles preventing veterans 
from receiving student loan discharges. It modernizes the 
administration of Federal student loans, and it is a wonderful way to 
honor veterans.
  Most debate about student loans is highly contentious and very 
partisan, but this bill here and now is an example of Democrats and 
Republicans coming together for the benefit of American heroes.
  Last year, President Trump signed an executive order eliminating a 
process for disabled veterans to become eligible for loan forgiveness. 
Today, we are here to ensure that this effort becomes permanent.
  I am a veteran, and I have countless veteran friends, many of them 
disabled. I know this bill will matter. Our veterans could use this 
break after selfless service, most of whom fought in not one war, but 
two--or many, at least.
  The FREED Act is just one example of this body's commitment and 
America's commitment to our Nation's bravest.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. LEE of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman 
from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney).
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the FREED Vets 
Act, a bipartisan measure led by my friend Conor Lamb from Pennsylvania 
and Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican, from Pennsylvania, that will 
automatically discharge Federal student loan debt for eligible 
permanently disabled veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, there is about a trillion dollars of student loan debt 
overhanging the U.S. economy, and we have worked on the Education and 
Labor Committee to pass the College Affordability Act that would open a 
pathway for people who serve in public service to get that debt 
discharged after 10 years.
  This bill is, in my opinion, a great example of bipartisan agreement 
that there is one population that should get immediate relief, which is 
the men and women who have worn the uniform of this country and who 
have suffered grievous injury, whether it is visible or invisible, and 
who are 100 percent disabled.
  As again has been stated, the Education Department got off to a start 
in terms of trying to implement this type of approach. This bill just 
will again strengthen and support that effort to make sure that the 
minute the VA has identified an individual who is permanently disabled 
who served our Nation, that notice will go to the Education Department 
and the discharge will be automatic. No application process, no 
matching process, again, it will just happen by operation of law.
  The statistics show that this is a real problem. There are 42,000 
veterans with student loan debt who, again, are permanently disabled, 
and 25,000 of those are in default. Getting this bill passed, getting 
this in operation as soon as possible is the most powerful way this 
country can say thank you, to eliminate one additional burden on people 
who have just shown their commitment and patriotism to our country.
  I congratulate the bipartisan sponsors of this bill, Mr. Lamb and Mr. 
Fitzpatrick, and urge all of us to come together and get this bill 
passed today, as soon as possible.
  Mrs. LEE of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Lamb), the sponsor of the bill.
  Mr. LAMB. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding. I thank my 
colleague from Kansas for his excellent support and work on this bill, 
as well.
  People often ask me when I go home to western Pennsylvania whether we 
ever knock off all the fighting down here and do some actual work and 
work across the aisle between Congress and the White House to actually 
get things done. What you are seeing here in this Chamber today is an 
example of the fact that there are many of us down here who are very 
serious about making that happen and making it happen more often as we 
go forward.
  The FREED Act responded to a very specific set of circumstances, 
which is that it has long been true that, if you are a 100 percent 
disabled veteran, you have your Federal student loans forgiven. But we 
all know there is a big difference between putting something

[[Page H1577]]

down on paper and making it happen in real life, and we were seeing 
huge numbers of disabled veterans not take advantage of this program 
either because they didn't know about it or because the process of 
applying for it was just too burdensome, there was too much paperwork, 
or it took too long.
  If you have a 100 percent disability rating, there is a lot in your 
life you have to worry about besides doing paperwork; so Congressman 
Watkins, Congressman Fitzpatrick and another great western 
Pennsylvanian, Congressman Guy Reschenthaler, and I were all looking at 
the same set of facts and said: We know what we need to do here. We 
already know these people have a 100 percent disability rating. Let's 
just make the loan forgiveness automatic. That was the genesis for this 
bill.

  I want to acknowledge that the administration and President Trump did 
the right thing here. They noticed this same problem last year, and 
they began to automatically forgive these loans by executive order. The 
problem was that there was some legal uncertainty about exactly who had 
the authority to forgive the loans how fast and when.
  Our understanding is that some disputes developed between OMB and the 
Department of Education, and it was slowing down the ability of 
veterans to take advantage of this thing that they are already entitled 
to by virtue of how much they have given to this country. So our bill 
was necessary to make sure that everybody involved knew they have the 
legal authority to forgive these loans.
  By this time next year, assuming we are able to get this through the 
Senate and to the President's desk for his signature, that number you 
heard from Congressman Courtney of 25,000 veterans whose loans are in 
default and an even higher number of tens of thousands more who haven't 
taken advantage of that should be zero.
  We are making an unequivocal statement today that, if you have given 
so much to this country that you have a 100 percent disability rating, 
you do not need to worry about your Federal student loans any longer.
  It is our job to remove obstacles from the paths of people who have 
given so much to this country. We all believe that there is much to be 
done on the subject of student loans, but what we want to make sure is 
that these brave Americans are first in line when we do that, and that 
is what our bill does.
  It is very common in America these days to hear people spot a veteran 
and say, ``Thank you for your service.'' I think the important thing 
about this bill is that it is Republicans and Democrats, Congress and 
the President all working together to say, ``Thank you for your 
service''--not only in words, but in actions. That is what this bill 
means.
  I am so grateful to have had the support of so many hardworking 
Members who look forward to seeing this bill pass today, and I urge all 
my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. WATKINS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick).
  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, the FREED Vets Act mandates that the 
Department of Education automatically discharge Federal student loan 
debt for eligible permanently disabled veterans. The staggering student 
loan debt crisis harms the financial security of many Americans, 
including the women and men who have honorably served our Nation.
  Our Nation's veterans have sacrificed immensely for our freedom and 
our way of life, and it is unacceptable that many disabled veterans 
continue to be saddled with high levels of student debt. The least we 
can do for them, Mr. Speaker, is to forgive the Federal student loans 
for those who have served our country.
  The VA established a program in 2018 to forgive veteran student debt, 
but the barrier of going through the processes meant that only 20 
percent of those eligible veterans received the assistance they 
deserved. This strong bipartisan bill makes student loan forgiveness 
for these vets automatic.
  I thank my friend, Congressman Lamb from Pennsylvania, for leading 
this bill, and I urge all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to 
stand with our veterans today and vote for H.R. 3598.
  Mr. WATKINS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I thank the President for all he has done for our veterans. I thank 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Lamb) as well as the gentlewoman 
from Nevada (Mrs. Lee) for all of their hard work in making this piece 
of legislation a reality.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3598.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. LEE of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  As my colleagues have heard today, this legislation would require the 
Department to continue ensuring that veterans who are totally and 
permanently disabled can have their student loan debt discharged 
without unnecessary complexity.
  Think about it, without unnecessary complexity.
  All this legislation does is streamline a process so those who have 
been totally and permanently disabled can have peace of mind and 
economic freedom. We owe it to those who have served our country to 
make this process as simple as possible, and I urge my colleagues to 
support this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Courtney). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentlewoman from Nevada (Mrs. Lee) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3598, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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