S5451Referred to Committee

A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require that recipients of Pell Grants be citizens or nationals of the United States.

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Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2026-09-22
Introduced
0
Cosponsors
S
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

Jim Banks
Jim Banks
Republican · IN · Senator
Votes with party: 77.0% (903 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/B001299

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (0)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

No cosponsors on record. Bills can pass without cosponsors — this often means the sponsor introduced the bill alone, either because it's a messaging bill, a chairman's mark, or simply early in the legislative cycle.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

2026-09-22

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

Plain-English Summary

Plain-English summary pending. Introduced on 2026-09-22. Check back soon — summaries are generated as bills progress through Congress.

Subjects

Education

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 5451 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 5451 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require that recipients of Pell Grants be citizens or nationals of the United States. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES September 22, 2026 Mr. Banks introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require that recipients of Pell Grants be citizens or nationals of the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. AMENDMENT TO THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965. (a) Pell Grants.--Section 401(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a(a)) is amended-- (1) in the subsection heading, by inserting ``; Eligible Student'' after ``Definitions''; and (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: ``(3) Eligible Student.--Notwithstanding section 484, or any other provision of law, for the purposes of this section, the term `eligible student' means a student who-- ``(A) meets the requirements of paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 484(a); and ``(B) is a citizen or national of the United States.''. (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 484(a) (20 U.S.C. 1091(a)) is amended by striking ``In order to receive'' and inserting ``Subject to section 401(a)(3), in order to receive''. <all>
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