Congress will be in its Spring District Work Period (recess) from April 6-17. The UW Director of Federal Relations and Assistant Director of Federal Relations will be on campus for meetings April 13-17.
Month: April 2009
Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Patent Reform Legislation
On Thursday April 2nd, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Patent Reform Act of 2009 (S. 515) by 15-4 vote after an agreement was reach on how to award damages in infringement cases. The bill establishes judges as the mechanism for deciding hwat evidence can be presented to juries in determining how to award damages. Additionally, the compromise addresses post-grant review of patents, in-equitable conduct by patent applicants and venue rules for patent infringement cases. The committee rejected an amendment offered by Senator Jon Jyl (R-AZ) to raise the threshold for patents to be challenged in a post-grant review process. According to Senator Dianne Feinsten (D-CA), the legislation “heals” the rift between large technology corporations and universities, manufacturers, and smaller technology companies. The actiontaken by the Senate Judiciary Committee has been endorsed by several national higher education association. Further work on the legislation in both chambers of Congress is required.
A full copy of the Senate Judiciary Committee legislation is available here.
Hold Placed on Sebelius Nomination to HHS
Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) appeared before the Senate Finance Committee for her confirmation hearing to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday April 2nd. Gov. Sebelius’ confirmation hearing centered around the impending push to overhaul of the nation’s health care system. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and other legislators are already drafting legislation. Ideological differences emerged during the hearing when the idea surfaced of creating a government-run health insurance plan that would operate alongside private plan options. Republican members of the panel expressed deep reservations about a government health care program.
Governor Sebelius’ nomination to head HHS has drawn bipartisan support and is expected to pass after the two-week Congressional recess that starts today. Senator Baucus sought to finalize her nomination before the recess, but the attempt at an expedited unanimous consent vote was blocked by an unnamed senator for an undisclosed reason.
FY2010 Budget Resolution Advances to House-Senate Conference
On Thursday April 2nd, the House of Representative and Senate approved the FY2010 Budget Resolution, which sets-up a conference session to iron out differences in the legislation between the two chambers. A budget resolutuion serves as a blueprint for Congress in putting together an actual budget. Over the past few weeks, House and Senate Budget Committees held hearings on the budget, which involved Administration offices. While the budget resolution does not require the President’s signature, it does support his goals of a health care overhaul, energy independence, boosting education, and reducing the deficit over the next 5-10 years.
The Senate adopted the legislation late in the night after working through over 100 proposed amendments, most of which were turned away. One amendment of particular note, proposed by Senator John McCain would have dramatically reduced domestic discretionary spending with the goal of providing greater deficit reduction, failed on a 38-60 vote. Other amendments proposed reducing spending in areas that received funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. However, all such amendments were defeated handily.
The House and Senate are expected to reach a conference agreement on the budget resolution after the two-week spring congressional recess that starts today. The FY2010 budget process will likely play out over the course of the next five months. President Obama’s official budget request is now expected in early May, and consideration by the various appropriations committees and subcommittees is expected to last into the fall.
President Obama Nominates Under Secretary of Education
On April 1st, President Obama nominated Martha Kanter to serve as Under Secretary of Education -the nation’s top post-secondary education post. If confirmed, Dr. Kanter would be the first community college official to serve at or above the number 3 slot in the Department of Education.
Excerpt from Biography
Martha J. Kanter is chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, one of the most prominent community college districts in the nation, serving more than 44,000 students with a total budget of approximately $400 million. She came to California in 1977 after serving as an alternative high school teacher at Lexington High School, the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns and later at The Searing School in New York City. In California, she established the first program for students with learning disabilities at San Jose City College. She then served as a director, dean and subsequently as vice chancellor for policy and research for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office in Sacramento. She then returned to San Jose City College as vice president of instruction and student services. In 1993 she was named president of De Anza College, where she served until becoming chancellor in 2003.
The full biography is available here.