Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013
Latest action. Became public lawWhat a bill becomes when enacted, numbered by Congress and order of enactment: Public Law 119-4 is the 4th law of the 119th Congress.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) No: 113-28.
Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013 - (Sec. 2) Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to set the annual interest rate on Direct Stafford loans and Direct Unsubsidized Stafford loans issued to undergraduate students at the rate on high-yield 10-year Treasury notes plus 2.05%, but caps that rate at 8.25%.
Sets the annual interest rate on Direct Unsubsidized Stafford loans issued to graduate or professional students at the rate on high-yield 10-year Treasury notes plus 3.6%, but caps that rate at 9.5%.
Sets the annual interest rate on Direct PLUS loans at the rate on high-yield 10-year Treasury notes plus 4.6%, but caps that rate at 10.5%.
Limits the applicability of the preceding provisions to loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2013.
Fixes the interest rate on Direct Stafford loans, Direct Unsubsidized Stafford loans, and Direct PLUS loans for the period of the loan.
Sets the annual interest rate on Direct Consolidation loans for which an application is received on or after July 1, 2013, at the weighted average of the interest rates on the loans consolidated, rounded to the nearest higher one-eighth of 1%.
(Sec. 3) Provides that the budgetary effects of this Act shall not be entered on specified PAYGO scorecards.
(Sec. 4) Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to conduct a study and report to Congress on the actual cost to the federal government of carrying out the federal student loan programs authorized under title IV of the HEA.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Public Law" stage on August 9, 2013. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This bill has been enacted. It is law.
The record's latest action, on August 9, 2013: Became Public Law No: 113-28.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
John Kline (R-MN) introduced it on May 9, 2013, and 5 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 5 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HousePassed
- SenatePassed
- PresidentSigned into law