Legislative Activity
Child Care and Development Block Grant
Last week, leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and House Education and the Workforce Committee announced that they reached an agreement on the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). The compromise bill is based on the CCDBG reauthorization legislation that the Senate passed last spring to reauthorize the federal government’s program to provide funding to states for the child care costs of low-income families. The proposal would authorize $15 billion over six years for the CCDBG program. The House will take up the bill this week and expected to pass it by a wide bipartisan margin.
Student Loan Reform Legislation
As previously reported, this summer Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced student loan reform legislation – the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act (S. 2432) – to allow students to refinance their interest rates on high-interest and private student loans. The bill came before the Senate in June but did not receive enough votes to allow it to be considered on the floor. Senate Democrats had made this bill a key part of their economic messaging agenda prior to the mid-term elections and also announced that they planned to bring it up again in the Senate this month. At this time, it does not appear that Senator Warren has enough votes in order for it to be considered on the Senate floor in September but it is still possible that the bill may see some action on the floor this week.
Upcoming Hearings
- Wednesday, September 17: The Senate HELP Committee will hold a mark-up which will include the Strengthening Education through Research Act (H.R. 4366).
