Booker, Warren, Pressley Reintroduce Legislation To Suspend Garnishments for Student Loan Borrowers

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), along with U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-07), reintroduced the Ending Administrative Wage Garnishment Act of 2025, legislation that would provide borrower relief and support by suspending garnishment as a tool for student debt collection by the federal government.

On April 22, 2025, the Department of Education announced that, starting May 5th, it will resume collections on defaulted federal student loans, including wage garnishments, tax refund interceptions, and seizure of Social Security benefits. For the nearly 5.5 million people currently in default-and soon for the projected 8 million additional people in delinquency-this means that they will face the government's harsh collection tactics for the first time in over five years. This shift coincides with mass firings at the Department of Education and limited access to income-driven repayment plans, leaving students without critical support to navigate the repayment process.

"Wage garnishment allows the government to instruct employers to withhold up to 15 percent of an individual's hard-earned wages, as well as intercept tax refunds, and seize Social Security benefits in order to collect student loan debt," said Senator Booker. "If resumed, this harmful practice will hurt millions of Americans already struggling to make ends meet while paying off their student loans. This legislation will put an end to the Trump's administration's attempt to punish vulnerable student loan borrowers."

"It's cruel for the Trump administration to restart collections while it crashes the economy and fires employees that help people navigate the loan repayment system," said Senator Warren. "Our commonsense bill stops the administration from going after working people and improperly taking a chunk of borrowers' paychecks."

"No one should have their hard-earned wages, tax refunds, and Social Security checks seized by Donald Trump-and our bill would ensure they do not," said Representative Pressley. "The Trump Administration should not be in the business of picking the pockets of our most vulnerable borrowers, gutting the Department of Education or exacerbating the student debt crisis. I am proud to partner with Senators Booker and Warren to push back against this Administration's shameful garnishment tactics and stand up for our student borrowers."

"Amidst unprecedented economic uncertainty and as millions of working families are struggling with the rising costs of everyday essentials, the Trump Administration's calloused decision to unleash abusive and uncontrollable collection tools that have the power to take borrower's hard earned wages without safeguards. Instead of helping the 5 million borrowers that have fallen into default and the millions more that are behind and now at risk of default later this year, this Administration appears set on inflicting massive economic harm on millions of Americans---a decision that will further drag down an already struggling economy," said SBPC Policy Director Aissa Canchola Banez. "We applaud Senator Booker and Congresswoman Pressley for introducing the Ending Administrative Garnishment Act which will rein in the Secretary of Education's authority to subject borrowers to administrative wage garnishment and ensure that critical safeguards are in place."

The Ending Administrative Wage Garnishment Act of 2025 would:

1. Suspends the Secretary of Education's authority to garnish wages, tax refunds, Social Security checks, or other earned benefits.
2. Mandates the Department of Education to:
3. 1. Promptly refund improperly garnished wages within one week.
   2. Establish the ability to independently suspend or terminate garnishment operations upon identifying errors.
   3. Ensure employers verify garnishment information quarterly.
4. Prohibits garnishment on loans that have been outstanding for more than 10 years.
5. Establishes a private right of action allowing borrowers to sue employers who improperly garnish wages after a garnishment order is suspended.
6. Requires the Department to pay double damages to borrowers whose wages are improperly garnished.

To read the full text of the bill, click here.