This Act immediately suspends administrative wage garnishment for certain student loans until the Secretary of Education certifies the implementation of a rapid error-correction system or ceases the garnishment authority entirely.
Ayanna Pressley
Representative
MA-7
The Ending Administrative Garnishment Act of 2025 immediately suspends the government's ability to garnish wages for certain student loans until new error-correction and data tracking systems are certified to Congress. If these systems cannot be implemented, the authority to garnish wages will cease. Furthermore, the bill establishes new penalties for employers who fail to stop improper withholding and limits wage garnishment to loans outstanding for no more than 10 years.
Student Loan Garnishment Stops Now: Government Must Repay Errors Double Within 10 Days
The Ending Administrative Garnishment Act of 2025 is a big deal for anyone with federal student loans facing wage garnishment. In the simplest terms, this bill hits the pause button immediately on the government’s ability to take money directly from your paycheck to pay back defaulted student loans.
The Instant Freeze on Paycheck Deductions
Starting the moment this bill becomes law, administrative wage garnishment for these loans is suspended. This isn't a temporary stopgap; it's a hard stop until the Secretary of Education can prove to Congress that they have fixed the system. To restart garnishment, the Secretary has two choices: either certify that they’ve implemented a system that guarantees people who are wrongly garnished get their money back within one week, and that they can get quarterly confirmation from every employer that the garnishment details are 100% accurate; or, they must certify that they can’t implement that error-free system and agree to stop administrative garnishment entirely. This sets a high bar for the government to clear before they can touch your wages again, meaning immediate relief for borrowers currently having their pay docked.
New Rules for Wrongful Withholding
This bill introduces some serious financial consequences for errors. If the Department of Education receives funds that were improperly garnished from a borrower’s paycheck, they don't just have to give it back—they have to pay the borrower twice the amount taken, and they have to do it within 10 days. Think about that: if $500 was taken incorrectly, the government owes you $1,000 back in less than two weeks. This creates a massive incentive for the Department to get things right and introduces significant financial liability if they mess up, making the borrower whole and then some. Courts can even issue an injunction to force this repayment if the government drags its feet.
The 10-Year Sunset Clause
Another major change is the introduction of a time limit. Under this bill, the government can no longer garnish your wages for any loan that has been outstanding for more than 10 years. This provides a clear end date for the government’s most aggressive collection tool. For a borrower who defaulted on a loan from college 15 years ago, this means the threat of wage garnishment is permanently lifted, offering a clear path out of the collection cycle for older debts.
Employers Face New Liability
While this bill is great for borrowers, it introduces a serious headache and new legal risk for employers. If an employer is notified that a wage withholding order has been suspended or canceled, but they keep taking money out of the employee’s paycheck anyway, they can be sued. The affected employee—or even the Secretary of Education—can take them to state or federal court. If the employee wins, the employer must pay back the improperly withheld amount, the employee’s actual damages, attorney fees, and potentially even punitive damages. For a small business owner, this means paying close attention to these notices is critical; failing to stop the deduction could turn into a costly lawsuit overnight.