Category: Uncategorized

NIH Director Francis Collins announced to reporters yesterday after a tour of facilities with Senator Mikulski (D-MD), that he had informed each director of the 27 individual institutes and centers that they will have the authority to determine how to take the looming 5.1% ($1.5 billion) sequester cut to NIH scheduled to take effect on March 1^st. Director Collins instructed institute directors “to figure out how to distribute that amongst the many difference kind of mechanisms, grants and centers, in terms of the intramural program, but everything will take a hit.” The NIH will attempt to prioritize things that seem most promising and critical to public health, although there is still expected to be across-the-board damage to virtually everything.

Senator Mikulski indicated that Congress is looking at March 27^th when the continuing resolution (CR) expires for a potential sequester fix. According to the Senator, that would create a legislative vehicle “to solve the problem of sequester to get us beyond the CR and to give certainty for this year and then focus on fiscal year ’14 appropriations while the President hopes to seek, with other leadership, a grand bargain.”

A roundup of bills introduced last week that may be of interest to the higher education community:

H.R. 729: A bill to amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to exempt the National Institutes of Health from sequestration under section 251A for fiscal 2013, and to reduce the sequestration by the amount of the exemption.
Sponsor: Jim McDermott (D-WA)  Introduced: 2/14/2013  Last Major Action: Referred to House Budget Committee  Cosponsors: 2
Link to McDermott Press Release

H.R. 618: A bill to authorize the Secretary of Education to enter into voluntary, flexible agreements with certain guaranty agencies to provide delinquency prevention and default aversion services for borrowers and potential borrowers of Federal Direct Loans under the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Sponsor: Michael Michaud (D-ME)  Introduced: 2/12/2013  Last Major Action: Referred to House Committee on Education and the Workforce  Cosponsors: 4

S. 370: A bill to improve and expand geographic literacy among kindergarten through grade 12 students in the United States by improving professional development programs for kindergarten through grade 12 teachers offered through institutions of higher education.
Sponsor: Thad Cochran (R-MS)  Introduced: 2/14/2013  Last Major Action: Referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions  Cosponsors: 1

The full text of these bills can be found by searching for their respective bill number at thomas.loc.gov

Last night, President Barack Obama used his fifth State of the Union address to lay out an ambitious second term policy agenda.  The president called for comprehensive immigration reform, managing college costs, raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour, universal access to preschool for all four year olds, gun safety, climate change, $50 billion for infrastructure spending, partnerships to promote cleaner energy and improved manufacturing, a free trade zone with Europe,and winding down the war in Afghanistan. Obama called on Congress, and specifically Congressional Republicans, to allow his proposals on issues ranging from taxes and entitlements to guns and immigration to move forward.

Once again, the president addressed the rising costs of higher education in the State of the Union. Specifically, he called upon colleges and universities to do more to make college affordable, and going further, Obama called upon Congress to address this issue in the upcoming Higher Education Act reauthorization. He asserted that measures such as affordability and value should determine which colleges should receive federal aid. In addition, the president announced that the Administration is releasing today the long-waited “College Scorecard” to compare schools based on cost and value.

Additionally, Obama called for renewed bipartisan efforts to develop a package of spending cuts and tax hikes to replace the $85 billion in automatic fiscal 2013 spending cuts scheduled to begin March 1. The president urged Congress to pursue a combination of spending cuts and new tax revenue to reduce the deficit rather than across-the-the-board spending cuts, and he suggested a corporate tax overhaul could provide funding for new efforts to boost the economy. Without a deal, Obama warned, furloughs would occur that would undermine the economic recovery, hurt military and domestic programs and “cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs.” Obama did not propose changing the spending caps set by the 2011 law and said “nothing I’m proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime.” But with little room to maneuver under the spending caps, Obama made clear that the tax code would be at the center of his efforts to broker deals with the House and Senate Republicans to tackle the deficit, spur growth and strengthen the middle class. Congress must act before March 27 – the expiration of the current stopgap for the CR.

A roundup of bills introduced this week that may be of interest to the higher education community:

S. 216: A bill to prevent harassment at institutions of higher education. (Also known as the Clementi Act)
Sponsor: Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) Introduced: 2/4/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Cosponsors: 5 (including Patty Murray) Lautenberg Press Release
House version: H.R. 482 (Introduced by Rush Holt [D-NJ], 22 Cosponsors including Rick Larsen and Jim McDermott) Holt Press Release

H.R. 459: A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to promote innovation, investment and research in the United States, to eliminate the diversity immigrant program. This would allocate 55,000 visas per year for foreign students receiving advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Sponsor: Darrell Issa (R-CA) Introduced: 2/4/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to House Judiciary Committee Cosponsors: None Issa Press Release

H.R. 487: A bill to provide for a Medicare primary care Graduate Medical Education pilot project in order to improve access to the primary care workforce.
Sponsor: Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) Introduced: 2/4/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce. Cosponsors: 1 McMorris Rodgers Press Release

H.R. 521: A bill to award grants to encourage state educational agencies, local educational agencies, and schools to utilize technology to improve student achievement and college-and-career readiness, the skills of teachers and school leaders, and the efficiency and productivity of education systems at all levels.
Sponsor: George Miller (D-CA) Introduced: 2/6/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to House Committee on Education and the Workforce Cosponsors: None Press Release

H.R. 532: A bill to amend Title II of the United States Code to modify the dischargeability of debts for certain educational payments and loans. The bill would require privately issued student loans to be treated the same as other types of private debt in bankruptcy. Sponsor: Steve Cohen (D-TN) Introduced: 2/6/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to House Judiciary Committee Cosponsors: 14 Cohen Press Release

H.R. 536: Amend the ESEA of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants for recruiting, training, and retaining individuals, with a preference for individuals from underrepresented groups, as teachers at public elementary and secondary schools.
Sponsor: Susan Davis (D-CA) Introduced: 2/6/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to House Committee on Education and the Workforce Cosponsors: 3 Davis Press Release

H.R. 551: A bill to authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to support early college high schools and other dual enrollment programs.
Sponsor: Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX) Introduced: 2/6/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to House Committee on Education and the Workforce Cosponsors: 1 Hinojosa Press Release

H.R. 561: A bill to amend the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act to provide further clarity for institutions of higher education.
Sponsor: Patrick Meehan (R-PA) Introduced: 2/6/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to House Committee on Education and the Workforce Cosponsors: 6

S. 257: Amend Title 38, United States Code, to require courses of education provided by public institutions of higher education that are approved for purposes of the educational assistance programs administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to charge veterans tuition and fees at the in-State tuition rate.
Sponsor: John Boozman (R-AR) Introduced: 2/7/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to Committee on Veterans Affairs Cosponsors: 2 Boozman Press Release

S. 262: Amend Title 38, United States Code, to provide equity for tuition and fees for individuals entitled to educational assistance under the Post-9/11 Educational Assistance Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs who are pursuing programs of education at institutions of higher learning.
Sponsor: Dick Durbin Introduced: 2/7/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to the Committee on Veterans Affairs Cosponsors: None

The full text of these bills can be found by searching for their respective bill number at thomas.loc.gov

A roundup of bills introduced this week that may be of interest to the higher education community:

H.R. 359: A bill to establish and operate a National Center for Campus Public Safety. The bill would provide grants to institutions of higher education to assist in carrying out the functions of the Center. 
Sponsor: Robert Scott (D-VA) Introduced: 1/23/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to House Judiciary Committee Cosponsors: 2

S. 39: A bill to improve the health of Americans and reduce health care costs by reorienting the Nation’s health care system toward prevention, wellness and health promotion. The bill would aim to provide equal physical activity opportunities for students with disabilities at elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education.
Sponsor: Tom Harkin (D-IA) Introduced: 1/22/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to the Senate Finance Committee Cosponsors: 0

S. 169: A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize additional visas for well-educated aliens to live and work in the United States.
Sponsor: Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Introduced: 1/29/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee Cosponsors: 14

S.193: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for startup businesses to use a portion of the research and development credit to offset payroll taxes.
Sponsor: Chris Coons (D-DE) Introduced: 1/31/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to Senate Finance Committee Cosponsors: 6

The full text of these bills can be found by searching for their respective bill number at thomas.loc.gov