# Plain Language Summary: No Double Debt for Disaster Survivors Act of 2021

If you received a federal student loan and also got a disaster loan from the Small Business Administration (SBA) to help you recover from a disaster, this bill would let the government cancel some or all of your student loan debt. The idea is simple: if you've already borrowed money to recover from a disaster, you shouldn't have to pay back your student loans on top of that burden. The bill specifically covers SBA disaster loans given out starting January 1, 2020, which includes loans provided during the COVID-19 pandemic and other declared disasters.

Here's how it would work in practice. Let's say you took out a $30,000 federal student loan and then received a $15,000 SBA disaster loan. Under this bill, the government would cancel up to $15,000 of your student loan debt—matching the amount of your disaster loan. If your student loan was smaller than your disaster loan, they'd cancel the entire student loan instead. The bill covers different types of federal student loans, including standard federal loans and Perkins loans (a type of need-based loan for low-income students).

The bill requires the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration to work together to identify who qualifies and set up a process to automatically cancel the debt. They'd need to figure out which borrowers received both types of loans and then handle the cancellation without requiring people to jump through a bunch of hoops. The government would also have to report back to Congress regularly about how many people got relief and how much money was involved, helping ensure the program works fairly and prevents fraud.

No Double Debt for Disaster Survivors Act of 2021

Carter, Troy A.

No Double Debt for Disaster Survivors Act of 2021 This bill directs the Department of Education to discharge the outstanding federal student loan debt for a borrower who received, on or after January 1, 2020, a Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loan. Further, the bill specifies that the amount of student loan debt discharged may not exceed the amount of the SBA disaster loan.