Legislative Activity Senate Budget Committee Report Last week, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) released a report which details her priorities for the federal budget over the next two years. Chairman Murray called on her colleagues to use the greater budget certainty provided for the next year as a result of the December 2013 … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Budget Resolution Last Tuesday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released the House Republican FY 2015 Budget Resolution, the Path to Prosperity. It was approved in the House Budget Committee on a party-line vote last Wednesday and the House plans to consider the Budget Resolution on the floor next week. The … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Child Care and Development Block Grant Before leaving for recess, the Senate overwhelmingly passed its legislation (S. 1086) to reauthorize the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) by a vote of 97-1. The bill will renew the federal funding provision for state support of child care services for low-income families and institute educational, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Child Care Development Block Grant Reauthorization Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed cloture on the motion to proceed to legislation (S. 1086) to reauthorize the Child Care Development Block Grant, which expired in 1996 but has continued to receive appropriations funding since then. A vote on the legislation, which would … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congressional Response to Executive Actions on Higher Ed Policy House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent a letter to President Obama on February 12 requesting to work in partnership with the Administration on reauthorizing the Higher Education … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Education Leadership Last week, Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) announced he will resign from Congress on February 18. Rep. Andrews is second in seniority to House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA), who is retiring at the end of the year. Shortly after the announcement, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) made … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate HELP Committee Legislative Priorities Last week, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) outlined the Committee’s legislative agenda for the coming year, which will be his final year in the Senate as he plans to retire at the end of 2014. Included on his list of priorities … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity School Choice As part of National School Choice Week this week, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) plan to introduce new legislation to incentivize states to expand school choice – without imposing new federal mandates – on Tuesday at an event … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity FY 2014 Appropriations Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) stated last week that negotiators are making progress on the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, which is typically the most contentious of the 12 appropriations bills. A draft of the bill – expected to be released Friday, January 10 – … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Early Childhood Education Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) has set passage of an early childhood education bill as one of his top two priorities for 2014. (The other is an increase in the minimum wage.) As such, we expect the Committee to hold hearings early this … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Budget Deal In a budget deal reached last week, conferees raised approximately $5 billion in savings from two provisions affecting federal student loan programs: The agreement would require guaranty agencies to lower the amount that they charge borrowers, from 18.5 percent to 16 percent, for rehabilitating defaulted loans in the Federal Family Education … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Legislation to Help Homeless Students Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) plan to introduce legislation that will assist homeless students that are looking for financial aid to attend college. In the bill, colleges would be required to develop a plan to assist homeless and foster youth during academic … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Subcommittee Changes House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA) announced new subcommittee assignments last week. As such, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) will join the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education and the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. Additionally, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) is moving from that subcommittee … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity 90/10 Rule Legislation Last week, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Protecting Our Students and Taxpayers (POST) Act of 2013 (S. 1659) to amend the current 90/10 rule that requires for-profit colleges to receive no more than 90 percent … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Alternative Accreditation Proposal In a speech at the Heritage Foundation on October 29, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) unveiled his plans to introduce the Higher Education Reform and Opportunity Act next week. The proposed legislation would provide a new option for states to create alternative accreditation systems while also keeping the existing system of … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Student Privacy Protections Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) sent a letter Tuesday, October 22 to Education Secretary Arne Duncan requesting more information about student privacy protections. The letter acknowledged the potential for the collection, analysis, and storage of K-12 students’ academic records, but expressed concerns about putting such sensitive information in private hands. The … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Charter Schools House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) announced last week that he would visit a charter school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania today to deliver a policy speech about expanding school choice. Majority Leader Cantor’s amendment on school choice was adopted as part of the House’s bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Reauthorization Legislation On Tuesday, September 10, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held its first hearing this Congress to examine opportunities to improve education research and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), and committed to move forward with the reauthorization of the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA), which created IES in 2002. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Pell Grant Report The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report examining the recent growth of the Pell Grant Program and policy options to address the cost of the program. As lawmakers look to reauthorize the Higher Education Act in the coming year, there is no doubt the cost of the Pell Grant … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Student Loan Interest Rates Last week, the Senate passed its student loan interest rate compromise bill by an 81-18 vote. As previously noted, this proposal would peg interest rates to the 10-year Treasury note, plus 2.05 percent for both the subsidized and unsubsidized portions of the undergraduate loans, plus 3.6 percent for graduate … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Student Loan Interest Rates A bipartisan group of senators, led Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), announced another agreement on student loan interest rates last week. The deal, which represents a new scheme that shifts to market-driven variable interest rates, was announced after Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) ultimately agreed to support it. According to reports, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Student Loan Interest Rates The agreement reached on a student loan interest rate package last week has been disrupted after a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score estimated a $22 billion (over 10 years) cost to the proposal. A bipartisan group consisting of Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (WV), Tom Carper (DE), and Dick Durbin … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Student Loan Reform Senators continue to work on a bipartisan deal to address federally subsidized student loan interest rates, which expire July 1. The long-term deal, which is expected to (1) peg the rates to the 10-year Treasury bill, (2) include a consolidated rate cap – something Democrats have called “non-negotiable,” and (3) … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Gainful Employment Nominations for individuals to serve on the Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking committee to prepare proposed rules for gainful employment programs under Title IV are due July 12. The department may establish additional negotiated rulemaking committees to consider action on issues, including: (1) Cash management of funds provided under Title IV … Continue Reading
