December 18, 2009
Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal, published an op-ed by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In the piece, Secretary Duncan makes the case that banks don’t belong in the federal student loan business and that the subsidies they currently receive through Federal Family Education Loan program would be better spent on student aid. The Senate… Read More
December 17, 2009
Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a jobs package (H.R. 2847 -Jobs for Mainstreet Act of 2010) that provides $75 billion of unspent funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for assistance to states and local governments in avoiding government layoffs and supporting infrastructure repair and modernization. Of note to the higher education community… Read More
December 14, 2009
The Senate is expected to spend the week working through amendments to a health care overhaul bill. Both chambers are also expected to take up a Defense spending bill that will likely serve as a vehicle for several other end-of-year measures. Later in the week, the House will take up bills on community radio, and… Read More
December 10, 2009
Despite House passage of the Tax Extenders Act of 2009 (H.R. 4213), it appears possible that tax provisions important to the higher education community may expire at the end of the month. The provisions include the education tuition deduction, the IRA charitable rollover, and the research and development tax credit. Disagreements in the Senate over… Read More
Yesterday, details on a House-Senate omnibus FY10 appropriations package (H.R. 3288) emerged. The omnibus package will contain 6 of the 7 appropriations bills that have yet to be signed into law -with only the Defense Appropriations bill remaining. The Defense bill is being utilized as a final vehicle to advance measures that the leadership in… Read More
December 8, 2009
December 8, 2009 Department of Energy Announces Fellows Program for Advance Research Energy Projects Announcement comes on the heels of ARPA-E’s 2nd Funding Opportunity Cambridge, MA – The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) announced today the creation of the ARPA-E Fellows Program at an event with Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s… Read More
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that a second round of funding opportunities for transformational energy research projects is available through ARPA-E. At a joint event with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Secretary Chu reported that $100 million in Recovery Act funding will be made available to accelerate innovation in green technology,… Read More
December 7, 2009
IN THE HOUSE The House convenes at noon on Monday to consider a number of parks and lands bills. Tuesday and The Balance Of The Week – The House convenes at 10 am for legislative business. Members will consider a number of bills under suspension of the rules, including an FAA extension, bills on consumer… Read More
December 2, 2009
The Senate is off to a slow start on debating their health reform measure this week, which may force the Senate to return to DC the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day to wrap up work on a the bill. While no decisions have been made yet, Senate Leadership is warning members of the… Read More
November 30, 2009
The pace of visitors coming to Washington DC slowed quite a bit in November, which is typical for this time of year. In fact there were only three from campus. The first was Randy Hodgins, Vice President of External Affairs, who was here the first week of November. Randy and the Federal Relations team of… Read More
