H.R. 2028: REDI Act

The Resident Education Deferred Interest Act is short and aimed at one window of time: the years between graduating from medical or dental school and finishing residency. During that stretch, residents earn a salary but typically not enough to make a dent in professional-school debt, while interest keeps accruing.

The bill adds medical and dental internships and residencies to the list of reasons a federal borrower can defer payments. The difference from a regular deferment is the key part: interest would not build up during it, and no principal payments would be due until training ends.

It is narrow on purpose. It does not cancel any debt, shorten training, or extend the same treatment to other graduate fields with long required training. The likely debate is over cost — the government collects less interest — and whether other professions with mandatory post-graduate training should get the same deal.