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.
Weekly Update: 10/15/19
President and Administration
Congressional Republicans appear poised to hand President Trump a stinging rebuke of his Turkey and Syria policy when lawmakers return to Washington today…
On Monday, 9/20, a federal judge ruled that Congress didn’t unconstitutionally penalize Democratic-leaning states when it imposed a cap on federal deductions for state and local taxes…
Education
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced $71.6 million in new funding to enhance safety in schools and improve student access to mental health resources…
Congress
On Monday, 10/14, Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top Russia and Europe adviser, was on Capitol Hill to testify that she and other officials objected strenuously to the removal of the ambassador to Ukraine, only to be disregarded…
Today House Democrats are introducing their HEA reauthorization proposal, the College Affordability Act…
On Wednesday, 10/16 at 10:00am EST the House Judiciary Committee will markup H.R. 3942, the “Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act” introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) on July 24, 2019.
On Wednesday, 10/16 at 10:30am EST the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing entitled "Legislation to Reverse the Youth Tobacco Epidemic" to discuss H.R. 2339, the "Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2019"…
On Wednesday, 10/16 at 10:00am EST the House Committee on Appropriations Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled “E-cigarettes: An Emerging Threat to Public Health.” …
DC Update 9/23/19
President and Administration
Competing factions inside the White House have stymied efforts to unite behind gun legislation, further delaying President Donald Trump from getting behind any plan…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s emergency operations center has been activated to coordinate the investigation into hundreds of severe lung injury cases that may be linked to vaping…
On Friday, 9/20, California and nearly two dozen other states filed suit against the Trump administration’s unprecedented legal reversal of the state’s authority to set its own rules on climate-warming tailpipe emissions…
Department of Education
On Tuesday, 9/17, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made clear that vocational rehabilitation (VR) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds can be used to support dual enrollment, comprehensive transition and other postsecondary education programs for students and youth with disabilities…
Congress
The Senate is expected to follow the House’s lead and pass a stopgap spending bill this week to help avert a government shutdown that would take hold at the end of the month…
On Tuesday, 9/24, at 10:00am EST the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy will host a hearing entitled “Don’t Vape: Examining the Outbreak of Lung Disease and CDC’s Urgent Warning Not to Use E-Cigarettes” …
DC Update 9/16/19
President and Administration
The Trump administration said it planned to halt the sale of flavored e-cigarettes as youth use continues to rise and amid a national outbreak of lung illnesses that may be linked to vaping devices…
Congress
This week the House is expected to start work on a clean Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government through 11/21…
On Thursday, 9/12, Senate GOP appropriators advanced their funding levels for fiscal 2020 spending bills along partisan lines, setting up what could be difficult negotiations with the Democratic-led House as a deadline looms at the end of the month for Congress to act or face a shutdown…
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday, 9/12, that the House would vote in the coming weeks on a resolution to condemn Trump’s national emergency declaration…
On Sunday, 9/15, Democratic leaders said they will not accept anything less than universal background checks in negotiations with Trump over gun control…
On Wednesday, 9/11, the House Education and Labor Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee held a hearing…
Moderate Democrats are growing wary of more liberal party members' fixation on potentially impeaching Trump…
H.R. 530, Accelerating Broadband Development by Empowering Local Communities Act of 2019, was referred…
Election 2020
The questions on education focused more on K-12 education than on higher education this time around…
DC Update 9/9/19
President and Administration
A new Department of Homeland Security rule seeks to do what pro-immigration advocates have long dreaded by giving U.S. immigration officers broad authority to deny applicants citizenship, green cards, visa extensions and changes in immigration status based on past or potential future use of public benefits…
The Trump administration advanced two regulations that would toughen the asylum process. The measures appear to target what President Trump described as "rampant abuse" of the asylum system…
President Trump is reportedly finalizing his proposals designed to curb gun violence…
Congress
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced plans to put a clean stopgap funding or Continuing Resolution (CR) bill on the floor the week of Sept. 16…
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is calling for abolishing the Electoral College, saying that the voting system is a "scam" that negatively impacts minorities…
In the wake of back-to-back shootings in Ohio and Texas this month, Red Flag gun laws have emerged as a potentially bipartisan method of curbing the nation’s escalating number of mass murders…
On Tuesday, 9/10, at 11:30am EST the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee will hold a markup…
On Wednesday, 9/11, at 10:15am EST the House Committee on Education and Labor Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education will hold a hearing entitled "The Importance of Trauma-Informed Practices in Education to Assist Students Impacted by Gun Violence and Other Adversities” …
On Tuesday, 9/10, at 10am EST the House Committee on Financial Services will hold a hearing entitled “A $1.5 Trillion Crisis: Protecting Student Borrowers and Holding Student Loan Servicers Accountable” …
Higher Ed
The National Science Board has released an annual report, "Higher Education in Science and Engineering," which contains a wide array of data about the state of STEM education on American college and university campuses…
President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum that will significantly streamline the process to erase federal student loan debt for totally and permanently disabled veterans…
Election 2020
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet criticized his opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday, 9/5, saying they've focused too much on ambitious proposals to forgive student debt and not enough on yawning inequality in the nation's K-12 education system…
Education Update: 6/17/19
President and Administration
President Trump has asserted executive privilege over congressionally subpoenaed documents on the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census…
On Thursday, 6/14, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill to make improvements to the IRS, after the House passed the measure earlier this week. The bill, known as the Taxpayer First Act…
Department of Education
On Wednesday, 6/12, the Education Department published in the Federal Register proposed regulations to overhaul the federal requirements governing college accreditation. They're based on…
Congress
The Senate markups that were rumored to begin in late June will now be delayed…
Higher Education Hearings:
On Wednesday, 6/19, the House Veterans' Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee will hold a hearing on "Examining Mid-Semester School Closures Impact on Student Veterans" at…
On Wednesday, 6/19, the House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on "Innovation to Improve Equity: Exploring High-Quality Pathways to a College Degree" at…
On Thursday and Friday, 6/20-6/21, the National Science Foundation will hold a meeting of the Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering to provide…
On Thursday, 6/13, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced a bill that would forgive billions of dollars in outstanding student loans and wipe out almost all student debt held…
The lack of a spending deal with fewer than 15 legislative days remaining until the August recess is prompting some GOP senators to discuss the possibility of cutting…
The House will vote on the first federal minimum wage increase in over a decade this July. The legislation to be considered is the…
On Wednesday, 6/19, the House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties will hold a hearing on H.R. 40, “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act” and the…