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News and updates

News and updates

What We’re Reading this Week (October 28th-November 1st, 2019)

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

ISIS Leader Killed: President Trump announced that ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was killed in a raid at the beginning of the week, and that his “likely replacement” was also killed, greatly weakening the terrorist organization. More at CBS.

American Colleges Top List of World’s Most Innovative: Reuters published their list of the world’s most innovative universities. American universities heavily dominated the list. The top five universities were all American, and included University of Washington. This represents the value of American education, and serves as a reminder of why investment in education is so important for our economy. Read more at Forbes.

House Votes on Impeachment Inquiry: The House has voted by a majority of 232-196 to formalize the rules governing an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. The inquiry is related to a whistleblower complaint and foreign policy towards Ukraine. The House has not voted to impeach President Trump. Although the new rules will allow for televised hearings and the release of witness testimony, Republicans still argue the process is unfair. More at Washington Post.

DoE Pushing AI: The Department of Energy has announced a major refocus on Artificial Intelligence, and that they will push for $3 billion-$4 billion in funding over the next decade. The goal is to keep US research as competitive as possible, and expedite further scientific discoveries. The full story is at Science Magazine.

China Convenes Gathering of Nobel Laureates: China has convened a four day gathering of Nobel Prize Laureates in Shanghai. The convention is supposedly meant to promote Chinese scientific ventures. More at The Economist.

Boeing CEO Testifies on 737 MAX: Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg testified before the House Transportation Committee on Wednesday. The testimony comes in the midst of accusations of mismanagement on the 737 MAX project. Leaked internal emails reveal that key personnel were aware of technical issues on the aircraft prior to fatal crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Also this week, the union representing American Airlines flight attendants, the largest operator of the 737 MAX, published a letter demanding greater involvement before the aircraft is brought back online. More at The Hill.

 

One Step At A Time

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After having agreed to take it up late last week, the Senate passed this afternoon a four-bill appropriations package by a vote of 84 – 9.  The bundle, a Senate substitute to a House-passed bill, includes the following FY2020 funding bills:  Agriculture; Commerce-Justice-Science; Interior; and Transportation – Housing and Urban Development.  This represents the first four spending bills passed by the Senate for the current fiscal year, which started October 1.

Senate Republican leaders had hoped that the passage of the first bundle would led to momentum to bring up a second package of bills that would include, among others, the Defense and Labor-HHS-Education measures.  The Democrats have continuously objected to the two bills moving because of the DOD funds that would be used to build a Southern wall and fights over language on abortion in and the perceived lack of enough funding for the Labor-HHS bill.  After the Senate agreed to the first four bills, it failed to reach the 60-vote threshold necessary to get cloture to move forward on the second set of bills.  The vote was 51 -41.

Although the Senate has now passed four appropriations bills, there still is no agreement between the two chambers on how much funding is available overall for FY2020.  The top line must be agreed to first before compromises on individual bills can be reached.

 

HEA Bill Finally Clears Committee

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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.

House Committee Still Working on HEA

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Having lasted two days so far, the House Education and Labor Committee is still in the process of marking up the Democratic version of a bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA).  The committee is currently in recess, allowing members to vote on bills being considered on the floor.

By the time the session concludes, the committee will have entertained approximately 60 amendments.

We will follow up with further details after the conclusion of the markup.