Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations office is reading this week.
Aliens – Stephen Hawking and Russian entrepreneur and VC, Yuri Milner, have announced a $100 million effort to search for alien life called Breakthrough Listen. Recent discoveries have shown the building blocks to life exist in abundance elsewhere in the universe. Milner’s also footing the whole bill. Read more at the Washington Post.
Trump Unifying – Presidential candidate appears to be a great party unifier and uniter of political parties…because neither one wants to be associated with him. Read more in the Washington Post.
Questionable GI Benefits – VA Secretary Robert McDonald has been asked by several Senators to investigate allegations that a number of questionable unaccredited educational institutions have received GI Bill benefits despite federal regulations to prevent it. The Center for Investigative Reporting recently published a piece that said veterans were using the benefit to attend unaccredited sex, Bible and massage schools. The VA did not respond to a weekend request for comment. The request from the senators comes as veterans who attended for-profit Corinthian Colleges that collapsed seek to have their GI Bill benefits reset, and as the Senate begins to focus more on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act. Read the report here.
Paying More for College – Student loans and debt may be dominating higher education policy debates, but six in 10 families didn’t borrow to pay for college in 2015, and parents’ out-of-pocket spending surpassed scholarships and grants as the top source of funds for the first time since 2010. However, an annual Sallie Mae report found that when families did borrow, the student took on nearly three-fourths of the debt. Read the Sallie Mae report here.
Are You In? Or Out? – As yet another presidential hopeful throws their name into contention this week, there are now a significant number of people running for the presidential nomination, last count 16. So many are running that Fox News has said they will only invite the top 10 candidates in the polls. How do you calculate the top 10 is giving some candidates concerns. Read more in the New York Times.
Harper Lee – While Harper Lee’s recent publication, Go Set a Watchman, has been controversial (and heartbreaking) for a number of reasons, the book has spurred great conversation about the duality and conflicts of Atticus Finch. How do you resolve the Atticus of To Kill a Mockingbird with the Atticus that joins the Citizens Council in Watchman? Politico has a long form story on why, yes, this conflict makes sense for a white man living in the South of the 1930s.
Making Lemonade – Lindsay Graham makes a video on how to destroy a cell phone.