Weekly Update 11/18/19

President and Administration

President Trump has postponed his plan to ban flavored e-cigarette products after listening to advisers wary of political fallout…

Implementing the VA Mission Act: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its regulations that govern scholarships to certain health care professionals…

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) (collectively, the Departments), are jointly issuing a final rule to amend the regulations governing DOL's certification of nonagricultural labor or services to be performed by temporary foreign workers in H-2B nonimmigrant status (H-2B workers)…

Education

Secretary Betsy DeVos on Wednesday,11/13, proposed revamping both K-12 and higher education to make them more tailored to the needs of the workforce…

The U.S. Department of Education announced Friday, 11/8, that it invested $540 million to support science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, including computer science, through discretionary and research grants in Fiscal Year 2019, in accordance with President Trump's directive to foster expanded opportunities in these in-demand career fields…

On Wednesday, 11/20, the House Education and Labor Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled "Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Labor Department's Apprenticeship Program."…

The number of enrolled international students at American colleges and universities decreased at all academic levels -- undergraduate, graduate and nondegree -- in the 2018-19 academic year, according to new data from the "Open Doors" report…

Two new polls show that Americans—particularly young Americans—don’t see a college degree as crucial to their career success, yet one more sign that people are questioning whether higher education is worth the debt…

Congress

Dramatic testimony from U.S. diplomats working in Ukraine have significantly raised the stakes for this week’s impeachment inquiry appearance from Gordon Sondland…

While top appropriators say they’ve made progress on how to tackle the 12 annual spending bills that keep the government running, the short timeline and continued disagreement…

Weekly Update 11/11/19

President and Administration

On Tuesday, 11/12, the Supreme Court begins hearing oral argument for DACA… 

The Department of Labor Inspector General found that the Labor Department misused more than $1 million of Apprenticeship funds to finance a White House-directed apprenticeship program after repeatedly telling Congress that existing funding would not be spent on the initiative…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday, 11/8, that samples of lung fluid from 29 lung injury patients in 10 states all contained the same chemical…

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced Friday, 11/8, that about 1,500 students who attended two art institutes that were part of the sudden collapse of a career-school chain this year will have their federal loans canceled…

Congress

Lawmakers will bring up another continuing resolution with just days to spare before a potential shutdown, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, (D-MD), said in a “Dear Colleague” letter on Friday, 11/8…

On Wednesday, 10/30, the House Committee on Education and Labor passed H.R. 4674, College Affordability Act, 28 - 22. It now heads to the House floor for a vote.

On Wednesday, 11/13, at 10:00am EST the House Committee on Energy and Commerce will markup H.R. 2339, the “Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2019” by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) on April 18, 2019.

On Wednesday, 11/13, at 10:00am EST the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will hold a hearing to examine the response to lung illnesses and rising youth electronic cigarette use.

House Republicans on Saturday pressed ahead with their efforts to move the impeachment inquiry away from President Trump, calling on Democrats to add witnesses to the probe including former vice president Joe Biden’s son and the whistleblower whose initial complaint kicked off the investigation…

Weekly Update 11/4/19

President and Administration

The final year of President Donald Trump’s first term will be loaded with legal landmines — and it’s not just the impeachment cases…

Department of Education

As part of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' Rethink Higher Education agenda, the U.S. Department of Education announced the publication of final accreditation and state authorization distance education regulations…

The Department will also soon publish proposed rules based on the consensus agreements reached on topics related to distance education and innovation, as well as TEACH grants and the equitable treatment of faith-based institutions…

Congress

The Senate passed its first fiscal 2020 spending package on Thursday, 10/31, as lawmakers have weeks to prevent the second government shutdown of the year…

On Thursday, 11/7, at 10:00am EST the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will hold a hearing to examine bipartisan bills to promote affordable housing access and safety…

On Tuesday, 10/29, House Democrats proposed creating a commission to examine the feasibility and economic effect of a federal program to cancel student loan debt, an issue that’s been gaining traction among several 2020 presidential candidates…

On Tuesday, 11/5, at 2:30pm EST the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation and Space will hold a hearing …

The House voted on Thursday, 10/31, to make its impeachment inquiry formal…

2020 Candidate Update

Beto O’Rourke abandoned his presidential campaign on Friday, 11/1, exiting the contest just as a crush of better-funded, higher-polling candidates arrived here for an Iowa Democratic Party event…

Sen. Kamala Harris is closing three of her four presidential campaign offices in New Hampshire and has fired all her field organizers in the state as she hones in on her struggling campaign in Iowa, an aide tells CNN…

As of Nov. 1, 2019, here are the prominent candidates (in alphabetical order) still trying to win the nomination and challenge President Donald Trump in 2020…

Weekly Update 10/28/19

President and Administration

 On 11/12 the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the DACA lawsuit…

The Department of Justice (DOJ) must hand over to Congress certain redacted information from Robert Mueller's special counsel report, a federal judge ruled in a major win for House Democrats investigating President Trump…

On Sunday, 10/27, President Trump announced that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadihad been killed in a U.S. military raid in northwest Syria…

Earlier in September the Trump administration released a multi-agency proposal for housing finance reform…

 Education

On Tuesday, 10/29, the House Committee on Education and Labor will markup H.R. 4674, College Affordability Act…

A Republican U.S. senator has introduced legislation to address mass violence that encourages schools to identify students who present an "imminent risk" of harming themselves or others through their internet activity, and also directs the federal government to develop best practices for school behavioral intervention teams…

Massachusetts senator and 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is proposing a K-12 education plan that includes $450 billion in new federal aid over 10 years to disadvantaged students…

Congress

On Wednesday, 10/23, the Senate rejected a Democratic effort to overturn IRS regulations blocking workarounds to a portion of President Trump’s tax law that is disliked by high-tax states: the cap on the SALT deduction of $10,000…

Lawmakers appear resigned to another stopgap spending bill (a Continuing Resolution) to avoid a government shutdown just before Thanksgiving, suggesting the two chambers of Congress remain too far apart to enact regular spending bills before that deadline…

On Thursday, 10/3, U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), along with Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), announced the Ending Homelessness Act, a comprehensive plan to confront homelessness in our country…

Of all the testimonies so far, that of William Taylor, the U.S. diplomat now leading the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, appears most fruitful for investigators seeking a roadmap to documents they need — documents the State Department is resisting sharing for now…

On Tuesday, 10/1, the United State Court of Appeals blocked an Federal Communications Commission’s order preventing states from setting their own neutrality rules…

Weekly Update 10/21/19

President and Administration

An effort to quickly slap new sanctions on Turkey and formally oppose President Trump's Syria strategy is hitting a roadblock: the Republican-controlled Senate…

Congress

It's another busy week of testimony ahead in the ongoing impeachment probe with a parade of US officials headed up to Capitol Hill…

Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby said that spending negotiations remain in a “prolonged slump,” with less than six weeks left before government funding runs out and a shutdown threatens anew…

On Tuesday, 10/22, the House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing entitled “The End of Affordable Housing? A Review of the Trump Administration’s Plans to Change Housing Finance in America” …

On Wednesday, 10/23, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House Financial Services Committee during a hearing entitled “An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors.”…

On Thursday, 10/24, the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment will hold a hearing entitled “Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Labor Department’s Apprenticeship Program.”…

Education

The package of bills by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate education committee and House Democrats’ College Affordability Act would amend the Higher Education Act and have three important inclusions…

The largest community college in Pennsylvania, Harrisburg Area Community College, announced last week that it had stopped providing on-campus clinical counseling services to students…