Skip to content
News and updates

Category: Administration

Trump to Announce Sweeping Reorg of Federal Gov’t

Posted on

Today Politco is reporting that “The Trump administration is preparing to release a sweeping plan for reorganizing the federal government that includes a major consolidation of welfare programs — and a renaming of the Health and Human Services Department.

The report, set to be released in the coming weeks by the White House OMB, seeks to move safety-net programs, including food stamps, into HHS, two sources with knowledge of the plan told POLITICO. The plan would also propose changing the name of the sprawling department, while separately seeking cuts at USAID and the State Department.”

Read more from Politico and check back here for more information as it’s available.

ED Proposes to Delay Implementation of Distance Education “State Authorization” Regulations

Posted on

The Department of Education announced today its intention to delay the implementation of “state authorization” regulations on distance education programs.  The announcement by the department, which is expected to appear tomorrow in the Federal Register, cites a number of remaining questions surrounding the issue, including various unresolved operational and definitional uncertainties. The department has proposed to delay the regulations by two years to July 1, 2020.

White House Releases “Rescission” Package

Posted on

As expected, the White House Office of Management and Budget released its package of proposed rescissions earlier today.  The list of programs targeted for cuts is available  here.  The package includes 38 items, totaling approximately $15 billion in cuts.

The biggest portion of the package, roughly $7 billion, would come from the Children Health Insurance Program and more than $4 billion would come come from the Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program.

ED to cancel student debt collections contracts

Posted on

The Administration has announced plans to end student loan debt collections contracts with Windham Professionals and Performant Financial Corp. The Education Department said it plans to develop a different approach to collecting defaulted student federal loans in its dismissal of the debt collections agencies. The Washington Post has more information.

Administration “Rescission” Package Expected This Week

Posted on

The Trump Administration is expected to send to Congress a “rescission” package this week that would seek about $15 billion in cuts to already approved spending in prior years.

Unhappy about the size of the recently passed FY2018 omnibus spending bill, a group of House conservatives had asked the Administration to take steps to cancel or “rescind” parts of the spending package.  While there is some receptivity to the proposal in the House, it is a non-starter in the Senate, in which Senators of both parties would oppose such a move.

In an attempt to placate the conservatives, the Administration is expected to send to Congress this week a package of proposed cuts from prior years, totaling approximately $15 billion.  In order for the cuts to be adopted, Congress must agreed to them in 45 days.  Although the exact contents of the package are currently unknown, it is believed that none of the programs funded by the omnibus bill would be affected.

Regardless of how Congress officially reacts to the the Administration proposal, the funds for the programs listed for rescission by the Administration would be “impounded,” or frozen, for 45 days.

The Office of Federal Relations will provide updates throughout this process.