The letter from the Student Veterans of America to the leadership of Veterans Affairs committees of both chambers of Congress explaining the concerns surrounding GI Bill payments as a result of COVID-19 is available here.
Category: Committee Work
Congress Looks to Correct COVID-19-related GI Bill Problems
Both chambers of Congress are expected to take up legislation that would correct a problem in the GI Bill program caused by Covid-19.
As a result of how the current statutes and regulations are written and interpreted, the sudden transition of academic programs from traditional on-campus models to on-line programs without prior approval would lead to the loss of education and associated housing benefits for the recipient of the GI Bill. The veterans community as well as the higher education community, including individual institutions like the University of Washington, have become aware of the problem and have weighed in, asking for a solution.
The letter to the Senate from the higher education associations is available here while the letter to the House is available here. We will share a letter led by Student Veterans of America as it becomes available.
Upcoming: House Appropriations Hearing on NIH FY21 Budget Proposal
The House Appropriations Committee’s Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and related agencies Subcommittee will convene a hearing on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Budget Request for FY 2021.
Witnesses:
Dr. Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Dr. Nora Volkow, Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse
Dr. Ned Sharpless, Director, National Cancer Institute
Dr. Diana Bianchi, Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Dr. Gary Gibbons, Director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Date: Wednesday, March 4th, 2020
Time: 10:00am EST
Place: 2358-C Rayburn House Office Building
To watch the hearing, please visit the committee website.
UW Professor Testifying Before House Committee
On Wednesday, November 20th, 2019 Dr. Cliff Mass from the Department of Atmospheric Sciences will testify before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. The hearing is titled A Task of Epic Proportions: Reclaiming US Leadership in Weather Modeling and Prediction. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 2:00 EST, and you can watch it here.
HEA Bill Finally Clears Committee
The House Education and Labor Committee returned this morning for a third day of markup to finally approve the bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA). It was reported out by a vote of 28 to 22. Approximately five dozen amendments were considered during the consideration of the legislation.
The committee Democrats issued the following press release after the committee passage. Not surprisingly, the committee Republicans had a different take on the HEA measure.
The texts of the amendments offered during the markup are available here.
Even though the bill has emerged from committee, if and when it moves to the floor for consideration by the full House remains uncertain.