Help our college students graduate debt free.
Help college students graduate debt free.
Occurrences
Evidence
GovInfo lists Gonzalez of Texas among the original House sponsors/cosponsors of H.R. 1571, the Debt-Free College Act of 2019. The bill's purpose was to establish state-federal partnerships so students could attend in-state public higher education without debt. The listed action was referral to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Congress.gov identifies Rep. Vicente Gonzalez as sponsor of H.R. 6708, the Student Loan Relief Act, introduced February 11, 2022. The bill directed the Secretary of Education to cancel or repay up to $25,000 in federal student loans for each borrower. Latest action: referred to the House Education and Labor and Ways and Means committees; status: Introduced.
Assessments
Gonzalez took concrete federal legislative steps toward the promise, including cosponsoring the 2019 Debt-Free College Act and sponsoring the 2022 Student Loan Relief Act. Those bills would have materially helped with debt-free college or student debt relief, but the record provided shows they remained introduced/referred and were not enacted. No enacted federal outcome attributable to Gonzalez delivered debt-free graduation for college students, so this is a failed promise with credit for serious effort.