Truman Scholarship Clean House Act
Sponsored By: Representative Stefanik
In Committee
Summary
Would restructure governance and tighten eligibility and repayment rules for the Truman Scholarship. It would rewrite who serves on the Foundation board, add regional review panels, set clearer nominee standards, and create new stop-payment and repayment rules for recipients.
Show full summary
- Prospective scholars would face clearer criteria. Nominees must be full-time undergraduates nearing a bachelor’s degree, pursuing study for a public service career, and be U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
- A 13-member Board would combine Presidential and Congressional appointees and cap same-party Presidential appointees at four, and it would require staggered terms and a seven-member quorum.
- Regional review panels with at least five members would pick winners under set criteria and party-balance limits; recipients who fail public-service requirements or meet disqualifying conduct rules could have payments stopped and may owe repayment with 6 percent annual interest.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 2 mixed.
New scholarship stop and repayment rules
If enacted, the Foundation would be able to stop your Truman Scholarship payments for several reasons. Reasons include failing to file required reports, giving false or incomplete information, not starting the scholarship within 4 years after your bachelor’s degree (unless the Foundation gives a written extension), being a student leader tied to an incident that led to an organization’s suspension or expulsion, being suspended or expelled by your school for conduct, or having a felony conviction. The Foundation would have to give reasonable notice and a chance for a hearing before stopping payments. If payments stop, or if you do not work in public service for 3 of the first 7 years after the graduate degree paid for by the scholarship, you would have to repay the total scholarship payments plus interest at 6% per year. The bill would not change scholarships awarded before enactment; those awards would continue under their existing terms.
Regional panels and who may apply
If enacted, the Foundation would create Regional Review Panels to pick Truman Scholars for one or more States. Each panel would have at least five members, appointed each year by a two‑thirds Board vote, and no more than half of a panel could be affiliated with the same political party when appointed. Panels would use set criteria: community service and government involvement, leadership, academic work including writing and analysis, and whether the graduate program fits a public‑service career. Panels could not disfavor students for pursuing degrees such as an MBA or MD. Nominees would have to be full‑time undergraduates who will get a bachelor's next academic year (or qualifying seniors from Puerto Rico or certain U.S. islands), be preparing for graduate study leading to public service, show academic excellence, and be a U.S. citizen or national or a CNMI permanent resident. Panels would disqualify applicants in certain cases, including some leadership roles tied to an organization’s suspension or expulsion, institutional suspension/expulsion for conduct, or felony convictions.
Foundation must post award materials
If enacted, the Foundation would have to keep and post on its public website its press releases, program announcements, and biographies of scholarship recipients in unaltered form. It could not delete, hide, or password‑protect those items. Any edits would have to be clearly labeled and the original unaltered versions would remain available. These rules would apply to materials published before, on, or after enactment.
Board appointments and term limits
If enacted, the Truman Scholarship Foundation Board would be set at 13 members. Four members would be chosen by congressional leaders (one each by the House Speaker, House minority leader, Senate majority leader, and Senate minority leader). Eight would be Presidential appointees confirmed by the Senate, but no more than four of those eight could be affiliated with the same political party at appointment. The Secretary of Education (or a designee) would serve ex officio and could not be Chair. Non‑ex officio members would serve six‑year terms with initial staggering, vacancies would be filled for the remainder of terms, and seven members would make a quorum. The Board would appoint the Executive Secretary by a two‑thirds vote to a four‑year term, with reappointment allowed up to two more terms. The existing Board would be dissolved 90 days after enactment and replaced under the new rules.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Stefanik
NY • R
Cosponsors
Foxx
NC • R
Sponsored 3/24/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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