December 21, 2010
**12/21 Update** Today, the House passed the America COMPETES Act, as already agreed to in the Senate. The legislation now goes to the President, who is expected to sign it. Additional details will be provided shortly *********************************** On December 17th, in somewhat of a surprise move, the Senate voted to pass the America COMPETES Act…. Read More
December 20, 2010
The Senate Appropriations Committee has released a summary of a fourth continuing resolution, which would keep the government operating through March 4th at FY10 spending levels. The new CR comes after a failed attempt to advance a new spending package for FY11. The passage a CR through March 4th, as expected this week, would defer… Read More
December 20, 2010
On Friday Congress passed an altered version of the existing Post 9/11 GI Bill, which is designed to address issues that arose with the previous legislation. The updated bill will: - provide full tuition for those attending a public school in their home state and up to $17,500 in tuition payments for those attending private schools… Read More
December 17, 2010
Yesterday evening, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) decided to pull the FY11 omnibus appropriations package from the Senate schedule.The move came after several committed “aye” votes decided that they could no longer support the legislation due to concerns about the overall cost and presence of earmarks. The next step in the FY11 process will… Read More
December 16, 2010
Yesterday, the Democratic Policy and Steering Committee voted to recommend that Washington Congressman Adam Smith serve as the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. The vote essentially guarantees Congressman Smith the Ranking Member post in the 112th Congress. The Armed Services Committee has oversight of the operations of the Department of Defense as… Read More
December 15, 2010
UW Bothell Nursing Program Director Dr. Mary Baroni (pictured front right) and faculty member Dr. Suzanne Sikma (pictured back right) came to DC last week to attend and present at the Global Alliance for Leadership in Nursing Education and Science (GANES) conference. They were joined by program alumni Florentina Culiac (pictured center) and Gail McLean… Read More
December 15, 2010
**2nd Update 12/17** The packaged has been fully approved by Congress and is heading to the President’s desk, where it will be signed this afternoon. ** Update ** Today, by a vote of 81-19, the Senate voted to pass the much discussed tax-extenders package. The bill now goes to the House for a vote. The $893 billion… Read More
December 14, 2010
**12/17 Update: Now increasingly unlikely, as several committed votes in favor have switched Today, in a step towards closing out the FY11 appropriations process, the Senate Appropriations Committee released its omnibus appropriations package. The package would enable modest increases to federal research agencies that the University of Washington draws competitive grant support from. Additionally, the… Read More
December 9, 2010
The House passed its version of the DREAM Act late Wednesday, which would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented children who graduate from college or serve in the military. The Senate today decided to kill its own version of the bill – most likely because of the expectation that it would not receive enough… Read More
December 9, 2010
Washington’s Norm Dicks is on course to serve as Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Committee, after winning a vote of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee yesterday. The full Democratic caucus is expected to approve the nomination later today. The vote gives Cognressman Dicks the top minority party spot on the appropriations panel in the 112th… Read More
