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Category: Higher Education

Congress Gets Back to Work for the Long Slog

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The House and Senate return to work this week in what will be the largest number of consecutive legislative days prior to the August Recess.  Both legislative bodies will push pause and briefly come together for a joint session to receive Indian Prime Minister Modi.

The Senate returns today to resume consideration on its FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which was slightly detoured last week. The Senate Appropriations Committee to have full consideration of the FY 2017 Labor-H Appropriations bill this week — subcommittee will mark up Tuesday and full committee will consider Thursday. The Labor-H bill contains many of the issues that the higher education community is concerned about including student loans, Pell grants, Perkins, and NIH funding among others. The bill is currently in a close hold, but it is expected to expand the Pell grant program to become year round.

More information will be made available as soon as possible.

The House will return Wednesday to consider the FY 2017 Legislative Affairs appropriations bill as well as legislation to bailout Puerto Rico from its $70 billion in debt (for an island of under 3.5 million people). The island has defaulted three times, and its next big payout is due July 1. The Puerto Rico “bailout” has been very controversial on the House-side of the Hill. The territory has argued it simply needs leniency to restructure its current debt to reduce or delay payments.

Meanwhile, the FY 2017 Legislative Affairs bill could be the debut of the new House standard operating procedure of considering appropriations bills under a structured rule, rather than the traditional open rule. The traditional open rule having caused significant meltdown of the FY 2017 E&W bill before the break.

 

House Passes Amended Senate Energy Policy Bill

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Yesterday, the House passed, by a vote of 241-178, an amended Senate legislative package (S. 2012) containing its broad energy policy overhaul. The Senate, which passed a more bipartisan bill, expressed concern about several of the many contentious elements the House added. The House included several controversial provisions including it’s stalled version to reauthorize America COMPETES. 

The next step for the House’s energy bill is a conference with the Senate’s version of the legislation. 

House Keeps Moving on Appropriations

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This week, the House is expected to move the FY2017 E&W bill on the Floor while the House Appropriations Committee is expected to mark up FY 2017 CJS and T-HUD bills in full committee and FY 2017 Interior in subcommittee.

The House FY2017 E&W bill provides a total of $37.4 billion in funding subject to discretionary caps for FY 2017 for the Energy Department and federal water projects, $259 million more than comparable FY 2016 funding and $168 million more than requested. On a programmatic level, after factoring out rescissions and other scorekeeping adjustments, it provides a total of $37.7 billion to the departments and agencies funded by the measure, $350 million more than the current level and $88 million more than requested.

Compared with current funding, the measure increases funding for the Army Corps of Engineers by 2%, nuclear weapons activities by 4% and fossil fuels energy research by 2%. It decreases funding for nuclear nonproliferation programs by 6%, the Bureau of Reclamation by 10% and research on renewable-energy programs by 12%.

Democrats object to several policy provisions, including those that would prohibit funding for certain regulatory activities and those that would require that water in Northern California be diverted south for agricultural and other uses. The bill is expected to be considered under an open rule.

More information about the House FY2017 CJS and Interior bill will be posted as it is made available.

House Releases FY2017 CJS

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The House Appropriations Committee today released their FY2017 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill that would provide $56 billion, which is a 0.5 percent increase from current spending, and $1.4 billion over the Administration’s request.

The bill, which will be marked up in subcommittee Wednesday, would give modest spending boosts to several law enforcement agencies including the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration.

In science related topics, NASA would receive $19.5 billion, which is a $223 million increase and $1.2 billion above the President’s request. The bill includes $5.6 billion for NASA Science programs – $8 million above the 2016 enacted level and $295 million above the Administration’s request. This targets funding to planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics to ensure the continuation of critical research and development programs, while reducing funding for lower-priority research.

However, the NSF would see a slight funding dip;  it will get $7.4 billion, which is $57 million below FY2016 andl and $150 million below the Administration’s request. That said, NSF would receive a $46 million increase for research and related activities to $680 million, including funding for programs that relate to STEM education. Offsets for the increase are in targeted reductions to equipment and construction costs.

The legislation contains $5.6 billion for NOAA, which is $185 million below the enacted level and $268 million below the President’s request. Funding is targeted to important priorities such as the National Weather Service, which receives $1.1 billion – $12 million above the President’s request. The bill reduces funding in “lower-priority” NOAA activities such as climate research and ocean services.

Of note, the legislation also includes several conservative policy provisions, including a prohibition on the transfer or release of Guantanamo detainees into the United States, language designed to protect gun rights, and anti-abortion rights provisions. All provisions nearly guaranteed to warrant a veto threat from the White House. 

Read the overview here. 

Read the text of the legislation here.

ED Unveils Pell Dual Enrollment Pilot Program

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The Department of Education unveiled its plan to allow dual enrollments in the Pell grant program today. The plan, which would take place in the 2016-2017 school year, would allow high school students, who are Pell-eligible, to pay for and enroll in college classes using Pell Grant funds.

At a cost of $20 million, this latest experimental site will benefit up to 10,000 low-income students who will be able to enroll in college coursework while still moving through high school. Dual enrollment and early college programs have been shown to boost high school grades and college persistence and graduation rates. However, most students cover the tuition out-of-pocket at nearly half of colleges that offer dual enrollment.

ED will publish a notice in the Federal Register next week inviting colleges, in partnership with public secondary schools or local education agencies, to apply to participate.

Read the Department of Ed’s blog post about the program here.