Deadline for Outreach​: February 28, 2026

Please submit your congressional inquiry no later than February 28, 2026.
Submitting by this date helps ensure borrower concerns are raised together, increasing visibility and urgency with the Department of Education.

Why This Matters​

Phase II of JCLSA affects thousands of borrowers who have waited years for relief.  Our campaign is to raise visibility, create pressure for Phase II execution and drive responses from the Department of Education through Congressional Inquiries, by directing a concentrated volume of inquiries through House and Senate offices.

By requesting Congressional Inquiries regarding the status of your loan through one of your Congressional Offices, we:​
  • Create oversight and accountability
  • Document ongoing delays
  • Push the Department of Education toward clear, public timelines

Your voice matters.

The Problem

 In early January 2026, Federal Student Aid (FSA) updated their Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) missing payment banner on their Joint Consolidation Loan Separation News and Updates page.

The new language specifies that "Updated PSLF information will display in spring 2026."

There are three problems related to communication.
  1. The messaging regarding the Income Driven Repayment (IDR) Adjustment and PSLF from FSA, FSA Ombudsman's Office, and across servicers related to specifics on how and when these benefits will be handled is inconsistent, likely because the procedures are not yet in practice. 
  2. There are concerns that JCLSA knowledge transfer during the 2025 administration transition may not have been effective. 
  3. The new administration is deplete of resources and formal communication and responsiveness from Department of Education (ED) to JCL borrowers has been poor.

The Operation: Purpose & Goals...

What we want:
  • We want to ensure that ED delivers the IDR and PSLF payment credits and information in Spring 2026. 
  • We want to ensure that ED delivers these benefits to Joint Consolidation Borrowers as it was promised. 
  • We want to ensure that ED promotes transparent, consistent and timley responses to borrowers and proper execution through clear guidance to servicers.  

Campaign Purpose
​The purpose of this campaign is to reengage our Congressional offices to prompt action and communication, aligned with the three previously listed outcomes, from ED through a concentrated volume of Congressional Inquiries leading up to March-April 2026.

​Campaign Goal
​Our goal is to get at least 20 offices to reach out to ED directly. We have approximately 270 "warm" offices that have shown interest in one way or another beyond the initial vote for the law. Imagine if we can get ALL of those offices to take action!

How do I know if any offices in my district are supportive and "warm"?...


​Navigate to your address on The Do U.S. Part! Map and click the map next to your home for your Congress people's information popup. It will tell you who your House Representative and Senators are and indicate if they are "Cold", "Warm" or "Hot" on the JCLSA  You can also use this information to acquire to Legistorm contact information for your office.

What your outreach looks like... Phone Calls!

We know we won’t get all offices to take up our plight; so we need every member to reach out to their respective offices. Let’s see how many we can get.

Okay, but how? What do I need to do? It’s simple, really, and we have an Outreach Resources page to help you prepare.  We need members to take the following steps:
  1. Review the resources and understand what we want offices to do.
  2. Use the DoU.S.Part! Map to find your representatives.
  3. Obtain the names and contact information from Legistorm Data for staffers you need to talk to. This will get you to the right people rather than the “screener.”
  4. Make the phone call. We cannot emphasize this enough. Yes, email and contact forms are easier and less nerve-wracking, but they are also easy to ignore. They need to hear your voice---even if it’s a shaky, nervous, stumbling voice!
  5. Ask for the specifics. You want them to commit to asking ED for a progress (status) report with specific, hard deadlines for progress. If your representative says, “we will definitely keep an eye on it,” they aren’t taking tangible action. If they do not want to contact ED and ask for the progress report, ask them to be honest in their refusal to help you, a constituent. They will either help or they won’t.
  6. Report responses and temperature checks after each call made to an office.  This is incredibly important. We cannot necessarily change an office’s stance, but we can change our approach if we can evaluate our outreach results.
  7. Follow up (email is fine) weekly for a quick status update. If they do not respond to your email within 24 hours, give them a quick call to let them know you’re waiting to see what kind of progress they’ve made. ​

Get Staffer Info...

1. Find your address on The Do U.S. Part! Map and click the map for your Congress people's information popup.
2. ​Scroll to the bottom of the popup and select and copy your Congress people's information request to use in your request email or message.
3. In Facebook, use Facebook Messenger to create a message to Kristy Sinkhorn , paste the request information from the popup and send. You can also send an email to [email protected], Subject Line "Legistorm Request" and simply paste the request text from the popup into the email.
How do I conduct outreach?  What can I say when during a phone call?  What information can I provide my office to help make my case and gain support?
Identify and connect to your Representative's and Senator's and discover their stance on JCLSA on our interactive map. 
Report the outcomes your advocacy.  Indicate the temperature of your Congressman to your request here.
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