Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Creates a new income-contingent repayment plan called the Savings Opportunity and Affordable Repayment plan that caps monthly payments based on adjusted gross income relative to 250% of the poverty line, splits each payment 50/50 between principal and charges/interest (with specific ordering), prohibits charging unpaid accrued interest during plan participation, defers unpaid principal, and provides automatic forgiveness after 120 qualifying payments (10 years) for certain short undergraduate borrowers and 180 qualifying payments (15 years) for borrowers with graduate or other loans.
The bill also updates eligibility rules for existing ICR and PAYE plans (including phase-outs and re-enrollment limits), expands ICR-eligible loan types to include certain PLUS and consolidation loans for dependent students, requires IRS data sharing or alternative income documentation for recertification, and directs the Secretary to track forgiveness progress and provide disclosure and recalculation procedures.
Substantial redistribution, significant federal cost, and high political salience reduce chances absent offsets or broad bipartisan compromise.
Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a substantively drafted statutory change that specifies a new income-contingent repayment plan with detailed calculation rules, eligibility criteria, implementation timelines, and integration into the Higher Education Act. It is operationally detailed but omits fiscal acknowledgment and higher-level accountability/reporting provisions.
Liberals emphasize affordability, interest protections, and forgiveness.
Liberals emphasize affordability, interest protections, and forgiveness.
Likely broadly supportive: the plan lowers near-poverty payments, prevents unpaid interest from accruing, advances targeted forgiveness, and expands eligibility for certain borrowers.
Supporters will see it as increasing affordability and protecting low-income borrowers, while noting it is more limited than full debt cancellation.
Cautiously favorable but pragmatic: the plan simplifies affordability by tying payments to income and protects borrowers from negative amortization.
Concerns focus on fiscal cost, administrative complexity, and transition rules for existing plans; would seek clearer cost estimates and implementation details.
Likely opposed: views this as an expansion of taxpayer subsidy that reduces borrower responsibility and increases federal costs.
Concerned about moral hazard, administrative burden, and limits on re-enrolling in older plans are insufficient mitigation.
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Still ahead
Still ahead
Still ahead
Substantial redistribution, significant federal cost, and high political salience reduce chances absent offsets or broad bipartisan compromise.
The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.
Liberals emphasize affordability, interest protections, and forgiveness.
Substantial redistribution, significant federal cost, and high political salience reduce chances absent offsets or broad bipartisan comprom…
Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a substantively drafted statutory change that specifies a new income-contingent repayment plan with detailed calculation rules, eligibility criteria, implementatio…
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