WASHINGTON UPDATES
Capitol Advocacy Partners provides weekly newsletter updates featuring curated news from the executive and legislative branches, along with timely information on federal funding opportunities—tailored to keep you informed and ahead.
Education Update: 2/25/19
President and Administration
The House plans to vote Tuesday 2/26 on legislation to formally block President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southern border…
Acting OMB Director Russell Vought wrote in an Op-Ed for RealClearPolitics that the President’s upcoming FY20 budget proposal will adhere “to the spending caps already set in law”, which would necessitate a 5% reduction to non-defense spending. President Trump’s previous budgets have…
Department of Education
On 2/22 a federal judge ruled that the Department of Education had acted improperly when rejecting some student loan borrowers from the public service loan forgiveness program. The borrowers were initially told…
Congress
On 2/27 at 2pm the full Veterans' Affairs committee will have a hearing on "VA 2030: A Vision for the Future of VA" to discuss their plans and proposals for the VA…
On 2/27 the Budget Committee will have a hearing on the Republican tax reform bill. The hearing is expected to touch on the SALT cap as well as other issues…
This week the House will hold two hearings expected to examine President Trump’s immigration policies. Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA) will be an expert witness for the Foreign Affairs Committee…
Congress’ hopes to introduce a national privacy law early 2020 have been stalled due to dissent from California Democrats who are happy with the California Consumer Privacy Act. They are concerned that…
HEA Reauthorization
Senate Updates
The Senate HELP committee staff and members (D and R) are starting to exchange draft legislative language on a higher education reauthorization proposal. This would put them on track for a Spring committee markups of a reauthorization proposal…
Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), this month proposed that a single accountability system measuring students’ progress paying back their loans should apply to all colleges and majors…
House Updates
The House education committee announced that it plans to hold five hearings in the coming months on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act…The committee said that the five bipartisan hearings would be on the following topics…
Other
Last week the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Center for Education and the Workforce is launching the Jobs Data Exchange (JDX) to provide open source data for…
Education Update: 2/19/19
President and Administration
On 2/15 President Trump declared a national emergency that calls for diverting $8 billion towards construction or repair of up to 234 miles of border fencing or border barriers. The diverting funding comes from, among other accounts…
As previously shared, members of the Workforce Advisory Board have been announced. The Board will have 25 members, including…
Department of Education
On 2/12 the Department released a new consolidated FAQ guidance document on FERPA and its interpretation in the context of school safety. The new document includes guidance on…
On 2/19 the Department begins its second session of negotiated rulemaking concerning a rewrite of accreditation rules…
The Department of Education is making three modifications to their general discretionary grant application instructions that apply to….
Congress
Congress is in recess until 2/25/19.
On 2/15 President Trump signed a spending package to keep the government funded and open through the rest of the fiscal year (Sept 30). The bill includes…
Other
On 2/12 CAP attended on the District’s behalf a breakfast at the National Community College Trustee League Summit. Key federal legislative topics of California Community Colleges include…
Funding/Support Opportunities
A new National Science Foundation funding opportunity…
DC Update: 2/19/19
President and Administration
On 2/15 President Trump declared a national emergency that calls for diverting $8 billion towards construction or repair of up to 234 miles of border fencing or border barriers. The diverting funding comes from, among other accounts…
Department of Education
On 2/12 the Department released a new consolidated FAQ guidance document on FERPA and its interpretation in the context of school safety. The new document includes guidance on…
The Department of Education is making three modifications to their general discretionary grant application instructions that apply to….
Congress
Congress is in recess until 2/25/19.
On 2/15 President Trump signed a spending package to keep the government funded and open through the rest of the fiscal year (Sept 30). The bill includes…
On 2/12 the House Education Committee held a hearing on: “Underpaid Teachers and Crumbling Schools: How Underfunding Public Education Shortchanges America’s Students”. Highlights include…
HR 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, passed out of committee and will now head to the House floor…The bill would expand…
DC Update: 2/11/19
President and Administration
On 2/5 the President delivered the State of the Union address. The speech emphasized immigration and repeated his desire to build a border wall and reform immigration laws…
On 2/11 the Department of Labor released the FY19 allocation for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit program. The WOTC promotes the hiring of individuals who qualify as…
Department of Education
On 2/7 the Department of Education released its template for State Plan submissions for Perkins Career and Technical Education funds…The template lays out a likely timeline for the creation of…
Congress
Congress and the President have until 2/15 to reach an agreement to keep the government open past…
On 2/12 the House Education Committee will have a hearing on: “Underpaid Teachers and Crumbling Schools: How Underfunding Public Education Shortchanges America’s Students” …
On 2/4 Senator Alexander discussed is priorities for the Higher Education Act reauthorization. He hopes to pass a comprehensive bill in the HELP Committee…His three priority recommendations are…
On 2/7 Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN, also running for President) introduced a bill to allow 529 Education Savings Accounts to be used for…
On 2/6 the House Judiciary Committee held a four-hour hearing on gun violence in consideration of H.R. 8: Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019…
On 2/7 the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing on infrastructure needs. Chair DeFazio’s proposed bills to start the investment process are…
Other
On 2/5 the Business Roundtable released a letter to President Trump and Congress calling for, among other priorities, a reauthorization this year of the Higher Education Act. The Roundtable requested…
Funding/Support Opportunities
Two new National Science Foundation funding opportunities were released…
Education Update: 2/11/19
President and Administration
On 2/5 the President delivered the State of the Union address…Education issues were not prominently featured in the address…
Department of Education
On 2/7 the Department of Education released its template for State Plan submissions for Perkins Career and Technical Education funds…The template lays out a likely timeline for the creation of…
The State of California Workforce Pathways Joint Advisory Committee will meet on 2/19/19 to discuss the 2019-20 transition plan for Perkins Career and Technical education funds…
Congress
Congress and the President have until 2/15 to reach an agreement to keep the government open past…
On 2/12 the House Education Committee will have a hearing on: “Underpaid Teachers and Crumbling Schools: How Underfunding Public Education Shortchanges America’s Students” …
On 2/4 Senator Alexander discussed is priorities for the Higher Education Act reauthorization. He hopes to pass a comprehensive bill in the HELP Committee…His three priority recommendations are…
On 2/7 Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN, also running for President) introduced a bill to allow 529 Education Savings Accounts to be used for…
Three bills have been introduced to repeal the SALT deduction limit. The bills are identical and are straight repeals of the…
On 2/6 the House Judiciary Committee held a four-hour hearing on gun violence in consideration of H.R. 8: Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019…
On 2/7 the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing on infrastructure needs. Chair DeFazio’s proposed bills to start the investment process are…
Other
On 2/5 the Business Roundtable released a letter to President Trump and Congress calling for, among other priorities, a reauthorization this year of the Higher Education Act. The Roundtable requested…