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What We’re Reading this Week

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Below is a selection of articles the Federal Relations team read this week.

President Trump Impeached- President Trump was officially impeached by the House of Representatives on Wednesday evening. Now, he must face a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate which will determine if he is removed from office. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has confirmed that she will not transmit the articles of impeachment until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) establishes rules for the trial. Updates at Washington Post.

Heavy Rain for Western WA- The Seattle area received a record amount of rainfall on Friday, and more is expected. See Seattle Times for more.

Michigan Institute Pays Settlement for Undisclosed Foreign Influence- The Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, MI was ordered to pay $5.5 million after failing to disclose Chinese support its’ researchers received between 2012-2019. Full story at WSJ.

Report Finds Foster Children Less Likely to Graduate- In the two years since the Federal Government required states to report high school graduation rates of foster children, very little information has been made public. What has been revealed is that foster children have an extremely low graduation rate- just 35% in Oregon- because of constant transitions and a lack of support network. More at Kansas City Star.

Brexit on Track- After winning a majority in Parliament, PM Boris Johnson announced Brexit is on track for the end of January. MPs voted 358-234 in favor of the EU Withdrawal Bill. More at BBC.

What We’re Reading this Week (December 2nd-6th)

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Below is a selection of articles the Federal Relations team has read this week:

Bipartisan Deal on FUTURE Act: The Senate has passed bipartisan legislation which will permanently fund HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) as well as simplify the FAFSA and income verification for loan repayment. The deal was reached between Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA). More at Inside Higher Ed.

Department of Education Revamping Tech: The Department of Education announced that it will attempt to simplify processes for students to obtain information, such as consolidating websites and phone numbers, and launching a virtual chatbot to answer FAQs. Read on at Edsurge.

Impeachment Proceedings: This week Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi instructed the House committees investigating President Trump to draw up articles of impeachment. This signals the beginning of votes on impeachment. Meanwhile, the White House continues to refuse to participate in hearings. More at Roll Call.

Trump Administration Accused of Removing Protections for Transgender Persons: From the Army to the Department of Health and Human Services, many transgender public servants are complaining that protections are being rolled back in the Trump Administration. The White House contends that this is not due to intolerance, but correcting Presidential overreach during the Obama Administration. More at New York Times.

Report Finds Education Dept. Accelerating Civil Rights Cases

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A new report from the US Commission on Civil Rights found that under the Trump Administration, the Department of Education is accelerating the rate at which it closes civil rights cases. Although the time to resolve cases decreased, the Department also reduced the scope of investigations, and less investigations result in findings of civil rights violation or corrective action. The full report, which encompasses several federal agencies, can be found here.

UW Professor Testifying Before House Committee

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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.

Opposing the EPA “Transparency Rule”

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On November 13th, UW signed onto a letter circulated by the Michael J Fox Foundation to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. The letter opposes the Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science rule, which would require raw data to be made publicly available when it is used to formulate new regulations. UW is joined by over sixty other higher education institutions, associations, and research organizations in opposing these rule changes. There are many instances, especially in the health sciences, when making raw data publicly available would be infeasible or harm the confidentiality of research subjects. Therefore, this rule could limit the quality of data used in the regulatory process, as only data which could be made publicly available would be utilized.