ENSURING ACCESS TO CERTAIN HIGHER EDUCATION BENEFITS.

SEC. 559B. ENSURING ACCESS TO CERTAIN HIGHER EDUCATION BENEFITS. (a) Data Matching Required.—Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Education shall jointly complete a data matching process— (1) to identify each individual who, while serving as a covered employee of the Department of Defense, made one or more student loan payments eligible to be counted for purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program under section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)); and (2) without requiring further information or action from such individual— (A) to certify the total period of such employment for purposes of such program; and (B) to count the total number of qualifying payments made by the individual for purposes of such program during such period. (b) Covered Employee Defined.—In this section, the term “covered employee” means an individual who, at any time beginning on or after October 1, 2007, was— (1) a member of the Armed Forces serving on active duty for a period of more than 30 consecutive days; or (2) a civilian employee of the Department of Defense.