Congress·In Committee·S. 3070

Shutdown Student Loans for Feds Act

Student Loan Relief During Government Shutdowns

5 months ago·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

This bill was recently introduced in the Senate and sent to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for review. It is currently in the early stages of the lawmaking process and has no upcoming votes scheduled. The bill is considered active as it waits for the committee to decide on its next steps.

Passage Likelihood

25%Unlikely

The bill currently only has support from Democrats and Independents, making it difficult to pass in a divided Congress where student loan relief is a highly partisan issue.

·Lack of Republican cosponsors
·Partisan disagreement over student loan relief
·Currently sitting in a Senate committee
·Specific focus on the federal workforce

Legislative Progress

Senate

House

President

Law

Key Points

This bill would pause federal student loan payments for government employees and contractors if the government shuts down for at least 14 days. It applies to workers in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches who are not receiving their regular pay during the shutdown.
During the payment pause, interest would not build up on the loans. This prevents workers from owing more money later because of a budget standoff they did not cause.
The months where payments are paused would still count toward loan forgiveness programs. This helps public servants stay on track for programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness even if they miss payments during a long shutdown.
Credit scores would be protected because the Department of Education would report these paused payments as if they were made on time. This ensures that a government shutdown does not damage a worker's credit history.
The policy would be retroactive to September 30, 2025. If a worker already made a payment during a shutdown that lasted 14 days or more, they could request a refund from the government.