Terrorism Survivors Student Loan Deferment Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1796 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide student loan deferment for victims of terrorist attacks. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 12, 2019 Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide student loan deferment for victims of terrorist attacks. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Terrorism Survivors 4 Student Loan Deferment Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. STUDENT LOAN DEFERMENT FOR VICTIMS OF TER- 6 RORIST ATTACKS. 7 (a) TERMS OF FEDERALLY INSURED STUDENT 8 LOANS.—Section 427(a)(2)(C) of the Higher Education 9 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1077(a)(2)(C)) is amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1796.IS S1796 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1796 IS (1) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘or’’ after the 1 semicolon; 2 (2) in clause (iv), by striking the period at the 3 end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 4 (3) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(v) not in excess of 1 year due to the 6 borrower being a victim of a terrorist at- 7 tack;’’. 8 (b) FFEL PROGRAM.—Section 428(b) of the Higher 9 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078(b)) is amended— 10 (1) in paragraph (1)(M)— 11 (A) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘or’’ after 12 the semicolon; 13 (B) in clause (v), by inserting ‘‘or’’ after 14 the semicolon; and 15 (C) by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(vi) not in excess of 1 year due to 17 the borrower being a victim of a terrorist 18 attack as described in paragraph (10);’’; 19 and 20 (2) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(10) DEFERMENT FOR VICTIMS OF TERRORIST 22 ATTACKS.—For purposes of deferment under para- 23 graph (1)(M)(vi), a victim of a terrorist attack is an 24 individual who is designated as a victim of a ter- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1796.IS S1796 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1796 IS rorist attack by the head of the Federal agency that 1 is handling the investigation of the attack.’’. 2 (c) DIRECT LOANS.—Section 455 of the Higher Edu- 3 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (e)(7)(B)(i), by inserting ‘‘or 5 due to the borrower being a victim of a terrorist at- 6 tack’’ after ‘‘section 435(o)’’; and 7 (2) in subsection (f)— 8 (A) in paragraph (2)— 9 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 10 ‘‘clause (i) or (ii); or’’ and inserting 11 ‘‘clause (i) or (ii);’’; 12 (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 13 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 14 and 15 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘(E) not in excess of 1 year due to the 18 borrower being a victim of a terrorist attack as 19 described in paragraph (6).’’; and 20 (B) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(6) DEFERMENT FOR VICTIMS OF TERRORIST 22 ATTACKS.—For purposes of deferment under para- 23 graph (2)(E), a victim of a terrorist attack is an in- 24 dividual who is designated as a victim of a terrorist 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1796.IS S1796 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1796 IS attack by the head of the Federal agency that is 1 handling the investigation of the attack.’’. 2 (d) FEDERAL PERKINS LOANS.—Section 464(c)(2) 3 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 4 1087dd(c)(2)) is amended— 5 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 6 (A) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘or’’ after the 7 semicolon; 8 (B) in clause (vi), by inserting ‘‘or’’ after 9 the semicolon; and 10 (C) by inserting after clause (vi) the fol- 11 lowing: 12 ‘‘(vii) not in excess of 1 year due to 13 the borrower being a victim of a terrorist 14 attack as described in subparagraph (D);’’; 15 and 16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(D) For purposes of deferment under subpara- 18 graph (A)(vii), a victim of a terrorist attack is an in- 19 dividual who is designated as a victim of a terrorist 20 attack by the head of the Federal agency that is 21 handling the investigation of the attack.’’. 22 (e) DESIGNATING VICTIMS OF TERRORIST AT- 23 TACKS.—The head of the Federal agency that is handling 24 the investigation of a terrorist attack, or has handled the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1796.IS S1796 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1796 IS investigation of a terrorist attack, shall designate the indi- 1 viduals who are victims of such terrorist attack. 2 (f) ANTI-FRAUD PROTECTIONS.—The Secretary of 3 Education shall establish anti-fraud protections in car- 4 rying out the amendments made by this Act. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1796.IS S1796 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS