Legislative Activity Senate Committee on Appropriations Approves Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill Thursday, June 9, the Senate Committee on Appropriations approved the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations package, S. 3040, which funds the Department of Education at $67.8 billion, a $220 million decrease from the current year. A Committee summary of the bill can be found here. The bill re-establishes … Continue Reading
Legislative Update DOL Overtime Rule In response to this week’s final Overtime Rule, lawmakers have introduced the Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act (S. 2707/ H.R. 4773), legislation that seeks to ensure DOL pursues a balanced and responsible approach to updating federal overtime rules. Both bills are currently pending in their committees of jurisdiction – … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Perkins CTE Act Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Bob Casey (D-PA) are working on a bill to rewrite the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. The Perkins Act, which hasn’t been updated since 2006, sets policy on career and technical education. Lawmakers, including House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Title IX Exemption Transparency This week, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) introduced the Transparency in Taxpayer-Funded Discrimination Act, which would require the Department of Education to make publicly available a list of institutions that have applied for, or received exemptions from, the law. It would also require institutions that have applied for exemptions to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) It appears that Congress has finally reached an agreement on an Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization bill. We expect House leadership to officially announce conferees this week. The Senate will also need to appoint its conferees and will meet with the House conferees for at least … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Speaker Ryan’s Education Outlook Last Thursday, the House voted to confirm the current House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) as the 54th Speaker of the House. Rep. Ryan is a 16-year veteran of the House and received the support of all but nine of his Republican colleagues. As Speaker Ryan took … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Perkins Career and Technical Education Act Reauthorization The House Education and the Workforce Committee announced last week it will hold a hearing on Tuesday, October 27 focused on the rewriting of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. In addition to the House Education Committee’s announcement, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity USED Experimental Site Opportunity: Educational Quality through Innovative Partnerships (EQUIP) Last Wednesday, the Department of Education announced the launch of the Educational Quality through Innovative Partnerships (EQUIP) program. The pilot program is part of the Experimental Sites Initiative that allows colleges and universities to experiment with various measures of statutory and regulatory flexibility … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Impact of Speaker Boehner’s Resignation on Education Legislation As we reported last week, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) recently announced that he will retire at the end of October. Speaker Boehner has indicated his interest in using his last month in office to move forward his priorities, including finalizing a budget … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Considers Extension of Perkins Loan Program The Federal Perkins Loan program will officially expire on September 30 unless Congress steps in to reauthorize the program. The program, which grants loans to students with exceptional financial need, was authorized until the end of FY 2014 as part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Education Tax Breaks Republican tax leaders in Congress are looking to advance a number of bipartisan tax incentives for education in the coming months, while still working to find common ground with the Administration on several education tax breaks. Republican lawmakers in the Senate have indicated they would like to move forward with … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Holds Hearing on Campus Sexual Assault Last Thursday, September 10, the House Education and the Workforce Committee’s Higher Education and Workforce Training Subcommittee held a hearing titled “Preventing and Responding to Sexual Assault on College Campuses.” The hearing focused on the current state of campus safety and the patchwork of state and federal … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Higher Education Act Reauthorization Last Thursday, several Members of Congress joined together in a bipartisan manner to introduce legislation that aims to improve the country’s higher education system by simplifying the financial aid process, improving consumer information, providing financial aid counseling, and creating a more flexible Pell Grant program. The House Education and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization Last Thursday, the Senate passed its version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) – the Every Child Achieves Act (S. 1177) – by an 81-17 vote. The bill will now move to conference with the House’s ESEA bill – the Student Success Act (H.R. 5) … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization Last week, the House and Senate brought their respective versions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to the floor in each chamber. While the House passed its bill, the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), by a 218-213 vote on Wednesday, the Senate will continue to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization Both the House and Senate versions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) are expected to hit the floors of their respective chambers this week. While it now appears likely that both pieces of legislation will be considered before the August recess, it is less apparent … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Progresses Last Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies released its draft FY 2016 spending bill in advance of the Subcommittee’s markup the following day on June 17. This is the first time the House Labor-HHS-Education bill has been made public in three … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Higher Education Act Outlook On June 9, the National Journal hosted an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Higher Education Act (HEA). Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, spoke during the event, providing reflection on the progress made and the remaining work to be … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House and Senate Continue Legislative Action Addressing Sexual Assault Last week, Representatives Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Patrick Meehan (R-PA), along with 25 other members, re-introduced a bipartisan measure from the 113th Congress titled the Hold Accountable and Lend Transparency on Campus Sexual Violence Act (HALT Act). This piece of legislation would, among other … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate HELP Committee Forms Higher Education Act Reauthorization Working Groups In a joint statement released on May 21, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) announced the formation of bipartisan working groups tasked with addressing four key areas within the Higher Education … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity FY 2016 Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS)-Education Appropriations In the coming weeks, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education plans to release its FY 2016 appropriations bill to fund the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. When the draft bill is released, it will mark the first time the subcommittee has … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Higher Education Act The House Committee on Education and the Workforce plans to introduce a series of bills starting in early summer that focus on Title IV funding, accreditation, transparency, loan counseling, regulatory relief, and learning innovation (in no particular order). While the bills will be introduced separately, with the opportunity to comment, they will … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity This Week’s Hearings: Wednesday, April 29: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education will hold a hearing at 8:30 a.m. featuring public and outside witnesses to testify on the FY 2016 appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. Thursday, April 30: The House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity ESEA Reauthorization Passes Out of Committee After three days of marking up its ESEA reauthorization bill, the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously passed the measure last Thursday afternoon. While nearly 60 amendments were considered, many of the most controversial amendments were withdrawn – … Continue Reading
