GRACE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3792 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for deferment for Federal loans prior to the beginning of the repayment period. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 17, 2019 Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of Oklahoma introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for deferment for Federal loans prior to the beginning of the repayment period. 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 ‘‘Guaranteeing Respite 4 After College Ends Act’’ or the ‘‘GRACE Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFERMENT FOR FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS BE- 6 GINNING JULY 1, 2020. 7 Section 455(f) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 8 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(f)) is amended by adding at the end 9 the following new paragraph: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3792.IH H3792 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3792 IH ‘‘(6) DEFERMENT OF NEW LOANS ON OR AFTER 1 JULY 1, 2020.— 2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para- 3 graph (1)(B) or any other provision of this title 4 to the contrary, a borrower of a loan under this 5 part for which the first disbursement is made 6 on or after July 1, 2020, shall be eligible for 7 and granted a deferment, during which periodic 8 installments of principal need not be paid, and 9 interest shall not accrue— 10 ‘‘(i) with respect to any Federal Di- 11 rect Stafford Loan or Federal Direct Un- 12 subsidized Stafford Loan, during the pe- 13 riod prior to the beginning of the repay- 14 ment period of the loan; and 15 ‘‘(ii) with respect to any Federal Di- 16 rect PLUS Loan or Federal Direct Con- 17 solidation Loan, during the period prior to 18 the commencement of repayment of such 19 loan in accordance with section 20 428B9(d)(1) (as applied to Federal Direct 21 PLUS Loans) or section 428C(c)(4) (as 22 applied to Federal Direct Consolidation 23 Loans). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3792.IH H3792 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3792 IH ‘‘(B) OTHER DEFERMENTS.—The 1 deferment authorized under this paragraph is in 2 addition to the deferments authorized under the 3 preceding paragraphs of this subsection, and 4 nothing in this paragraph shall be interpreted 5 to eliminate the availability of any other period 6 of authorized deferment or forbearance under 7 this title, except as specified in subparagraph 8 (A).’’. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3792.IH H3792 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS