The US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will hold two hearings related to school reopening and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first hearing “COVID-19: Going Back to College Safely” is on reopening colleges and universities.
Date: Tuesday, June 4th, 2020
Time: 7am PT/10am ET
Watch live here.
The second hearing “COVID-19: Going Back to School Safely” is on reopening K-12 schools.
Date: Wednesday, June 10th, 2020
Time: 7am PT/10am ET
Watch live here.
In an updated letter to Congressional leadership, associations representing a swath of research institutions reiterated their call to invest at least $26 billion in scientific research in future COVID-19 response bills. Unlike previous communications, this letter calls out specific funding levels for a number of individual agencies, including:
The letter also calls for additional funds for agencies which have research budgets greater than $100 million, including NOAA and the Institute for Education Science.
The letter is available here.
Today the US House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 6800 (HEROES Act), a $3 trillion supplemental appropriations bill which includes a wide range of provisions ranging from healthcare to agriculture and nutrition. The legislation now moves to the Senate, although no vote has been scheduled yet.
The House also voted on a resolution to approve remote committee work, potentially allowing for FY21 appropriations to proceed remotely. The House is expected to meet on May 27th and 28th to vote on a FISA Re-authorization and discuss COVID related business.
A fifth supplemental package (Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act “HEROES Act”, H.R.6800) has been introduced in the US House of Representatives by the majority. The 1800-page bill, available here, is worth $3 trillion and covers a wide range of relief areas. It includes assistance to state and local governments, hazard pay for frontline workers, student loan relief, and assistance to medicaid and medicare programs. It also includes funding for COVID-19 research and contact tracing, among other provisions.
A vote is expected on Friday.
Tomorrow May 6th, Dr. Hilary Godwin will testify before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Dr. Godwin is Dean of the School of Public Health. The hearing is titled The State of the Aviation Industry: Examining the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic. It is scheduled for 2:30 ET/11:30 PT and can be watched live here.