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What We’re Reading This Week, October 17-21

The End of Political Correctness on Campus – Trump says he’ll end it, but can he? More from The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Debate: Five Takeaways – The tilt in Las Vegas had a little something for everyone: sharp personal attacks, substantive policy discussion and Trump’s unmatched ability to provoke controversy. More from The Hill

Nasty Woman: The Coolest Thing Hillary’s Ever Been Called – Within an hour of the debate about a quarter of a million tweets mentioned “nasty woman,” a vast number of them from women proudly declaring themselves nasty women too or, as one woman on Twitter put it, reclaiming their nastiness. More on The Washington Post

Growing Racial Disparities in Student Debt – Graduate enrollment is a worthwhile investment, the study finds, but comes with more financial risk for African-American students both because of their concentration in the for-profit sector and because of lower rates of graduation. More from Inside Higher Ed.

When Colleges Focus On Mastery – Scrap the lecture halls, final exams, degree plans, and traditional semesters. In a growing segment of higher education, students can enroll in a personalized online degree program that allows them to move through lessons as quickly as they can demonstrate mastery of the material. More from The Atlantic

Report: Biden’s Cancer Moonshot – By leveraging decades of scientific understanding from the study and care of cancer, creating and aggregating immensely powerful datasets, and developing unprecedented science and technological capabilities, we as a Nation are positioned to end cancer as we know it. More on the Moonshot effort.

Obama Tells Trump: Stop ‘Whining’  – President Obama ridiculed Donald J. Trump on Tuesday for saying that the presidential election was rigged against him. More from the New York Times.

Winning the Internet this Week: #TrumpBookReport  – People are tweeting Donald Trump’s take on old classics, and it’s wonderful. More from Buzzfeed.

 

 

 

Senate Passes 10-Week Continuing Resolution

Today the Senate passed a 10-week continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through December 9. In addition, the CR also provides $500 million for flood relief in Louisiana and surrounding areas, year-long appropriations for military construction and veterans programs, and $1.1 billion for efforts to mediate the spread of the Zika virus. The House must take action on the CR by Friday in order to avoid a government shutdown, as the federal fiscal year ends on September 30. 

Previously, Senate Democrats blocked the measure because it did not contain funding to help Flint, Michigan, repair its lead-tainted water supply. However, House and Senate leaders have negotiated an agreement, and the House will amend its version of the Water Resource Development Act (WRDA) to provide funding for Flint to mediate its water emergency. 

White House Announces Opposition to Overtime Rule Delay

Today the White House issued a Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP) regarding President Obama’s intent to veto HR 6094, the Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and Nonprofits Act, should the measure be presented to him. HR 6094 would delay implementation of the Department of Labor’s new overtime rules until June 1, 2017, and may go to the House floor for a vote this week. While the title of the bill suggests the delay would impact a small segment of employers, the bill would delay the entirety of the overtime rule.

As a refresher, the new DOL overtime rule increases the threshold under which most salaried employees are eligible for overtime from $23,660 to $47,476 per year. The Administration’s SAP can be viewed here.

DeVry Commits to 85/15 Revenue Threshold

Today, one of the nation’s largest purveyors of for-profit higher education, the DeVry Education Group, made a commitment to limit how much revenue it receives from federal student aid to 85 percent. Federal law stipulates that no more than 90 percent of revenue originate from federal aid. The move is broadly viewed as a response to broad criticisms of the for-profit education industry.

Eager to know more? Check out coverage from the Washington Post here.

Senate to Vote on CR at 5:15 Tonight

This afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delayed a procedural vote on the stopgap spending bill until 5:15 p.m. Tuesday. McConnell, R-Ky., also said he anticipates the Senate will be in session next week. The postponed procedural vote is on the expected legislative vehicle for the CR (HR 5325).