September 27, 2013
Today, the Senate approved an amended version of the House-passed Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the federal government running when the fiscal year ends on September 30th. The Senate-amended version strips out the House language defunding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and changes the end date of the CR from December 15th to November 15th…. Read More
September 26, 2013
That is the question on everyone’s minds. Today the Senate will offer amendments to the House-passed continuing resolution with the expectation that they will vote on the modified bill no later than Sunday and send it back to the House for consideration. House Republican leadership is already formulating a strategy to further modify the Senate-amended… Read More
September 23, 2013
With the end of the fiscal year just days away and no sign of a funding agreement in congress, Office of Management and Budget Director, Sylvia Burwell, issued a memo last week to heads of executive departments and agencies to begin planning for a government shutdown. The memo urged departments and agencies to update plans… Read More
There are just eight days left in the current federal fiscal year yet there is no certainty as to how lawmakers will resolve their partisan differences before October 1st. The continuing resolution (CR) approved by the House last Friday will be the focus in the Senate where they will attempt to modify the bill before… Read More
September 20, 2013
Update 9/20: The House voted 230-189 to pass the Continuing Resolution which is coupled with a provision to defund Obamacare. It now heads to the Senate where it will almost certainly fail as-is – and the chamber will restore funding, before heading back to the House. Both chambers must come to a consensus and approve… Read More
September 17, 2013
Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander today announced that they are launching a round of Higher Education Act (HEA) Reauthorization hearings over the next several months. The hearings will address a host of education issues and each hearing will have a specified focus. The Senators also issued a call for input from the higher… Read More
September 13, 2013
Congress has gone home for the weekend with no new developments on reaching an agreement to fund the government after the fiscal year ends September 30th. It may be too early to talk about government shutdown, but just in case I thought I’d pull up the helpful 2011 FAQ from The Chronicle of Higher Education on… Read More
September 11, 2013
What a difference a couple of days makes here in the nation’s capitol. On Monday, President Obama and Congress were still projecting a vote to take military action in Syria. But this morning it appears that the pause button has been pushed on that topic and lawmakers are once again turning to fiscal issues. Late… Read More
September 9, 2013
Congress returned from their five-week August recess today. There are a few issues of interest to us that they are expected to tackle in the next couple months, but much of the legislative calendar has been rearranged around the situation in Syria. Below are a couple of hearings this week that have been confirmed and… Read More
Congress returns to work today after a long summer break. When they left town five weeks ago, it looked like the legislative fall schedule would focus on domestic issues: the budget and debt limit, immigration, health care reform, and maybe even education or higher education issues. Now it appears that most of the nine working… Read More
