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News and updates

News and updates

Senate Seeks to Pass “Minibus” This Evening

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Earlier last week, it was expected that the Senate would pass its version of the first “minibus” spending package for FY2019, composed of the Energy and Water, Veterans Affairs, and Legislative Branch bills, by the end of the week.  Late last Thursday, however, as a result of drawn out debates on partisan amendments related to “Waters of the U.S.” regulation and funding for the “veterans choice” program, the Senate leadership decided to postpone further debate on the measure until this week.  The Senate is scheduled to take up the package again later this evening.

Although floor action on the spending package was postponed, the Senate appropriators continued to make progress in committee last week, as they approved three more spending bills:  Homeland Security, Financial Services and General Government, and State and Foreign Operations.

More action on the appropriations is expected this week as Appropriations committees in both chambers are scheduled to take up their respective versions of the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill this week.

Administration Releases Proposal to Reorganize Agencies

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Earlier today, the Trump Administration released a plan that it had been developing to reorganize federal agencies.

Called “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century,” the plan calls for a number of sweeping changes to a number of different federal agencies, including combining the Departments of Education and Labor into a single agency.  Among the other changes being proposed is a call to move all federal Graduate Fellowships to the National Science Foundation.

This plan is the culmination of a directive issued by the White House Office of Management and Budget after Mick Mulvaney was sworn in as its director at the beginning of the Trump Administration in 2017.

Many, if not most, of the proposals called for in the plan will require Congressional approval.

We will continue to monitor developments and provide updates.

Administration Issues “SAP” on Senate Minibus

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The Senate is currently working on its version of the first “minibus” spending package that was cleared earlier in the spring by the House, a measure that contains three of the 12 spending bills for FY2019:  Energy and Water Development; Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs.  In anticipation of its passage, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on the legislation, which often highlights provisions and/or policies of particular interest to the Administration in office.  A copy of SAP is the here.

“Rescissions” Package on Hold

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After the House cleared a $15-billion “rescissions” package two weeks ago, supporters of the measure in the Senate sought to bring it up in an expeditious manner earlier today. As a result of 50-48 vote on a procedural move against it, the package appears to be stalled.

The package seeks to rescind funds from prior years that are unspent or whose authorizations have expired, and is an attempt by the Administration and some in Congress to show that they want to rein in spending.  Its supporters in the Senate may try to push it again later but it appears stalled for now.

 

ED Delays Gainful Employment Regulations Again

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In a notice posted  yesterday, the Education Department announcement that it will delay again by a year the implementation of “gainful employment” (GE) regulations.  Last July, the department decided to delay the implementation of the GE regulations until this July 1.  This notice pushes back the regulations until July 1, 2019.

Read more about the background on the issue here.