LOAN Act of 2019
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Leveraging Opportunities for Americans Now Act of 2019 or the LOAN Act of 2019
This bill revises interest rates and repayment plans for federal student loans.
Specifically, the bill directs the Department of Education (ED) to set the interest rate on federal student loans made on or after July 1, 2021, at 0% and replace the interest with a one-time financing fee.
The bill permits ED to credit or refund borrowers who pay the balance of their loan earlier than required by their repayment plan with the amount of the financing fee.
The bill establishes an income-dependent education assistance repayment plan as the default repayment plan for federal student loans. A borrower may select either this new plan or a 10-year fixed repayment plan.
ED must calculate annual repayment amounts and provide annual statements to borrowers.
The Department of the Treasury must transmit tax information to ED as necessary to determine a borrower's repayment obligations and financing fee adjustments.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on May 2, 2019. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 2, 2019: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
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?
Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced it on May 2, 2019. No cosponsors are recorded.
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.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 2, 2019, 2735 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2735 days ago, on May 2, 2019.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers