# Student Loan Accountability Act: What It Actually Does

This bill would prevent the federal government from canceling or forgiving student loan debt on a large scale without Congress passing a new law first. Right now, the executive branch—meaning the President and their administration—can take certain actions related to student loans. This bill would block them from using that authority to wipe out student debt for groups of people, with one important exception: targeted forgiveness programs that already exist under current education law (like Public Service Loan Forgiveness for government workers or teacher loan forgiveness programs) would still be allowed to continue.

The bill's supporters argue that mass loan cancellation isn't authorized by existing law and that it's unfair to taxpayers who either paid off their own student loans or never went to college. They also claim that broad cancellation would help wealthier borrowers more than those who are truly struggling financially. The bill includes language making it harder for government agencies to use tax information to identify borrowers for a cancellation program, and it removes a recent tax provision that made forgiven student loan debt tax-free for borrowers.

If this bill became law, it would essentially require Congress to vote and pass a new law if the President wanted to cancel student loans for large groups of borrowers. Individual forgiveness programs that target specific professions or circumstances would continue working as they do now. The practical effect would be that any future broad student loan forgiveness would need approval from both the House and Senate, rather than being done through executive action alone.

Student Loan Accountability Act

Ferguson, A. Drew

Student Loan Accountability Act This bill generally prohibits the Departments of Education, Justice, or the Treasury from taking any action to cancel or forgive the outstanding balances, or portion of balances, of covered loans. Covered loans refer to Federal Family Education Loans, Federal Direct Loans, Federal Perkins Loans, and loans under the Health Education Assistance Loan Program. The prohibition does not apply to targeted federal student loan forgiveness, cancellation, or repayment programs carried out under the Higher Education Act of 1965. Additionally, the bill repeals the temporary tax-free treatment of discharged student loan debt. It also prohibits tax return information from being shared for the purpose of administering a student loan cancellation plan.