Legislative Activity House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health to Mark Up Seven Bills On Tuesday, November 3, and Wednesday, November 4, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health will hold a markup to consider seven pieces of legislation: H.R. 2017, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2015, and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Health Legislation Hits House Floor House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has announced that the following health-related bills will be considered this week under suspension of the rules: H.R. 1624, the Protecting Affordable Coverage of Employees Act, as amended, which provides that employers with 51 to 100 employees are small employers for purposes … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Republicans Postpone Reconciliation Actions Until After August Recess With the August District Work Period only weeks away, House Committee on the Budget Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) announced this past week that the House Committee on the Budget would not act on reconciliation until after the lawmakers reconvene in September. The three House committees … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Republicans Consider Obamacare Repeal Through Reconciliation Some GOP lawmakers continue to advocate for an Affordable Care Act repeal via the budget reconciliation process. Others, however, have been questioning whether this budget tactic would be better used for different policy objectives, such as tax reform. The budget resolution provided a July 24 deadline for … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Anticipate King v. Burwell Decision With the Supreme Court expected to issue its opinion in the statutory interpretation case of King v. Burwell this month, lawmakers are considering legislative options to address any potential changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The issue in the case of King v. Burwell is whether … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Markey-Hatch Student Data Privacy Bill Sens. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) circulated a draft bill last week to amend and modernize the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). The bill is intended to increase protection for student information, especially data held by third parties, but has yet to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Upcoming Hearings: Tuesday, April 29: The House Education and the Workforce Committee will hold a full committee hearing on the Department of Education’s FY 2015 budget request, with Secretary Arne Duncan testifying. Tuesday, April 29: The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing titled “Driving Innovation through Federal Investments” for which it solicited … 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 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
