Congress expands student debt relief to volunteer firefighters and EMTs

What it does

This bill expands the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program to include volunteer firefighters and volunteer emergency medical technicians (EMTs) as eligible for federal student loan forgiveness, provided they meet minimum volunteer-hour thresholds set by the Secretary of Education. Volunteer first responders who are not full-time employees of the same organization they serve would become eligible for the same loan-forgiveness benefits currently available to full-time public servants.

Why we flagged it

The bill's sole operative mechanism is to add a category of public servants (volunteer first responders) to an existing federal loan-forgiveness program. It is a straightforward eligibility expansion with no hidden riders or deregulatory intent.

What the text implies

• The Secretary of Education must define 'minimum volunteer time' in regulations; if set too low, the program could become administratively burdensome; if set too high, it may defeat the bill's purpose by excluding part-time volunteers.
• Verification of volunteer hours across thousands of fire departments and ambulance services (many small, rural, or nonprofit) may create compliance and tracking challenges; the bill requires the Secretary to establish a verification process but does not fund it.
• Volunteer firefighters and EMTs in states with weak certification or licensing standards may face unequal access if the Secretary ties eligibility to state/local authorization; this could create geographic disparities in program access.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Volunteer firefighters and EMTs provide critical public safety services without full-time compensation; expanding loan forgiveness to them recognizes their contribution and reduces personal financial burden for individuals performing essential emergency work. The expansion is narrowly targeted to unpaid or part-time emergency responders and carries no apparent cost to other citizens.

Who stands to gain

• volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians (individuals, not corporations)

Named in the bill

Department of Education, Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, Higher Education Act of 1965, volunteer firefighters, volunteer emergency medical technicians, fire departments, ambulance services, public safety organizations

Where it stands

5 cosponsors: 4 Democrats, 1 Republicans.

• May 1, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• May 1, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

2 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $120,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 23 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.

Dan Goldman, the sponsor, reported $407,029 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• International Association of Fire Chiefs — $70,000 on 2 filings
• Para La Naturaleza, Inc. — $50,000 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.