II 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 2949 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES September 27 (legislative day, September 22), 2023 Ms. Cortez Masto (for herself and Mr. Moran ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To require the Secretary of Defense to complete a data matching agreement with the Secretary of Education in order to ensure individuals who are current or former active-duty military service members or civilian employees and are otherwise eligible for assistance under the public service loan forgiveness program have their periods of employment automatically certified and counted towards the public service loan forgiveness program.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Ensuring Military Access to Higher Education Benefits Act of 2023 . 2. Data matching agreement with the Department of Education Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall complete a data matching agreement with the Secretary of Education in order to ensure that individuals who are current or former active-duty military service members or civilian employees and are otherwise eligible for assistance under the public service loan forgiveness program under section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1087e(m) ) have their periods of employment, beginning on October 1, 2007, automatically certified and counted towards the public service loan forgiveness program.