H.R. 6424 · 117th Congress

HIGHER ED Act

Introduced on Jan 19, 2022 by Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR-4). Latest action (Nov 1, 2022): Referred to the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Jan 19, 2022
Cosponsors
0
Policy area
Education
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve loans, and for other purposes.

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Jan 19, 2022). Public domain.

Helping Individuals Get a Higher Education while Reducing Education Debt Act or the HIGHER ED Act

This bill makes various changes to student loan forgiveness and loan repayment programs.

First, the bill authorizes graduate and professional students to receive subsidized Stafford Loans. These students have been ineligible to receive subsidized Stafford Loans since July 1, 2012.

Next, the bill allows student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy proceedings.

The bill also establishes refinancing programs for student loans. It allows certain borrowers to refinance their federal student loans down to lower interest rates, and it creates the Federal Direct Refinanced Private Loan to allow certain borrowers to refinance their private student loans.

Additionally, the bill revises the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, such as by (1) allowing certain part-time faculty to participate in the PSLF program, (2) directing the Department of Education (ED) to annually cancel 10% of the amount a borrower owes after satisfying 12 qualifying monthly payments, (3) revising the process for certification of employment, and (4) requiring ED to establish a dispute resolution process.

Further, the bill revises federal student loan repayment programs, including by (1) replacing existing student loan repayment plans with one income-based repayment plan and one standard 10-year repayment plan, and (2) allowing existing borrowers to lower their payments by switching to these new plans. It also establishes a process for ED to enroll a delinquent borrower in a new repayment plan.

The bill also requires ED to provide certain notifications to borrowers.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Peter A. DeFazioD-OR-4Sponsor

No cosponsors.

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jan 19, 2022Introduced in House
  2. Jan 19, 2022Introduced in House
  3. Jan 19, 2022 · HouseReferred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  4. Jan 19, 2022 · HouseReferred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  5. Nov 1, 2022 · HouseReferred to the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 8, 2026 · loaded Oct 8, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 7, 2026 · loaded Oct 7, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.