Weekly Update 8/30/21

California

The California Department of Housing and Community Development didn’t properly distribute the $316 million of federal relief funds meant to help homeless residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, auditors said last week in a report…

Frustrated by out-of-control increases in drug overdose deaths, California’s leaders are trying something radical: They want the state to be the first to pay people to stay sober…

A group of California lawmakers is considering whether to introduce a proposal to require all residents to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to patronize hotels, indoor restaurants, gyms, theaters and other establishments - and compel in-state employers to require their workers to get vaccinated…

The 44-16 passage of CA SB9 was a major victory for Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and for housing advocates who have pushed, often unsuccessfully, to streamline the construction of more housing density…

The National Republican Congressional Committee is running digital ads targeting frontline Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA) by citing the rising cost of school supplies as kids head back to class…

Coronavirus

The U.S. program to help tenants and landlords struggling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still moving at a slow pace and has delivered a fraction of the promised aid, data released by the Treasury Department on Wednesday, 8/25, show…

A divided Supreme Court lifted the Biden administration’s moratorium on evictions, ending protections for millions of people who have fallen behind on their rent during the COVID-19 pandemic…

Last week, Biden pressed businesses and public leaders to implement vaccine mandates after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine for people 16 and older earlier in the day…

Last week, Moderna said it had completed the application process for full approval of its COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S., putting the company on course to obtain the second such clearance from federal regulators…

Pfizer-BioNTech are officially seeking full U.S. approval for a COVID-19 booster shot for people 16 and older, asking regulators to sign off on a third dose to quell a rise in infections among vaccinated people…

As COVID-19 cases surge around the country, a majority of Americans say they support mask mandates for students and teachers in K-12 schools, according to a new poll, but their views are sharply divided along political lines…

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins predicted that the FDA will likely not authorize COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 until the end 2021…

Reported data shows that recipients who received a J&J booster dose generated virus-fighting antibodies “ninefold higher” than those seen four weeks after a single dose…

A new CDC study finds that hospitalization rates in late July were 29 times higher among unvaccinated people in Los Angeles County than among the fully vaccinated…

President and Administration

For the first time in decades, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - the nation's top public health agency - is speaking out forcefully about gun violence in America, calling it a "serious public health threat”… 

Biden’s approval rating has slipped to the lowest point of his presidency…

Congress 

Democratic lawmakers and the White House scrambled Friday, 8/27, to shore up safeguards for millions of tenants facing a housing crisis after the Supreme Court blocked an eviction ban imposed by the Biden administration…

The House passed a $3.5 trillion budget framework last Tuesday, 8/24, capping off several days of furious negotiating, with all House Democrats voting in favor of it…

Moderate and progressive Democrats are on a collision course over how to pay for President Biden’s $3.5 trillion economic agenda, a disagreement that has the potential to stall the legislation or sink it entirely…

More than 100 House Democrats, led by Ways and Means Committee members Suzan DelBene (D-WA) and Don Beyer (D-VA), are seeking to expand a federal subsidy for affordable housing in the chamber’s forthcoming spending bill…

The Defense Department would receive $549 million more than Biden requested to cleanup per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Bill, which the House committee will mark up on Wednesday, 9/1…

Education

School districts applied for more than $5.1 billion to buy laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots, routers, and other devices to help students connect to the internet from home ahead of an 8/13 deadline, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said last week…

Today, 8/30, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened directed investigations in five states - Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah - exploring whether statewide prohibitions on universal indoor masking discriminate against students with disabilities who are at heightened risk for severe illness from COVID-19 by preventing them from safely accessing in-person education…

The FDA’s announcement of its full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine last week opened the door for colleges and universities that have been hesitant to require vaccines for students to begin instituting mandates, especially since other FDA-approved vaccinations - such as for tuberculosis or hepatitis B - are already required on most campuses…

Last week, the Education Department said that it will immediately cease enforcement of a part of the Trump-era Title IX regulations that prohibits decision makers in sexual misconduct investigations from considering evidence by parties or witnesses if they don’t participate in cross-examination…

Financial aid offers could be better designed to be clearer and more accessible to students, according to a recent report which offers 10 recommendations to improve financial aid offers…

The Education Department will now presume that borrowers with approved borrower defense to repayment claims should be awarded full relief, unless evidence is presented that states otherwise…

Funding/Support Opportunities

• Nothing of note.

Weekly Update 8/23/21

California

Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign in California this week to rally Democrats against recalling Gov. Gavin Newsom…

Two California voters are challenging the legality of the state’s recall system less than a month before the election…

Beginning 9/20, all attendees at indoor events in California with more than 1,000 people in attendance will have to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the event…

On Friday, 8/20, a California judge said the November ballot measure that allowed Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash to continue treating their drivers as independent contractors is unenforceable and unconstitutional…

California will soon pay up to $2,500 in grants for workers laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic to help them go to college or train for a new job…

Coronavirus

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) formally approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine this morning, 8/23…

On Wednesday, 8/18, the country's top health officials announced that people 18 years and older who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines will be eligible for a booster dose eight months after their second dose…

Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents has yet to be authorized by federal health officials in part because they are investigating emerging reports that the shots may be associated with a higher risk of myocarditis, a heart condition, in younger adults than previously believed…

Last week, President Biden's administration confirmed that it plans to extend requirements for travelers to wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses and at airports and train stations through 1/18/22 to address ongoing COVID-19 risks…

A new large study out of Canada does not resolve an ongoing debate over whether infected children are as contagious as adults, and it does not suggest that toddlers are driving the pandemic…

The Biden administration said in a letter to lawmakers Thursday, 8/19, that it’s “appropriate” for expanded unemployment benefits to expire as scheduled in two weeks, but that states and local governments can use pandemic-relief funds for added help beyond the deadline amid the surge of the delta variant…

President and Administration

Property owners and real estate groups on Friday, 8/20, asked the Supreme Court to halt the Biden administration's new eviction moratorium hours after a federal appeals court let it stay in effect…

President Biden ordered Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Wednesday, 8/18, to take action against governors who have banned universal masking in public schools, taking a tough stand against those who he said are trying to “block and intimidate” local schools officials…

The Biden administration has revised the nutrition standards of the food stamp program and prompted the largest permanent increase to benefits in the program’s history, a move that will give poor people more power to fill their grocery carts but add billions of dollars to the cost of a program that feeds one in eight Americans…

Congress 

President Biden’s $4.1 trillion economic agenda, after early progress in the Senate, now faces a crucial test this week in the House, which has Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) fighting to keep tension between progressives and centrists among her narrow majority from derailing the strategy that she, Biden, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have crafted for moving the president’s two-part project through Congress…

Education

Nearly half of American students with learning barriers cited increasing amounts of stress, depression and anxiety as the leading obstacle in the 2020-21 school year…

Last week, the Departments of Education and Labor launched an initiative to help connect millions of unemployed Americans to postsecondary education, especially those displaced from their employment during the pandemic…

Interest on student loans has been retroactively waived by the Office of Federal Student Aid at the Department of Education for more than 47,000 current and former active-duty service members…

Student loan borrowers with a total and permanent disability will now have their loans automatically discharged under a new regulation announced Thursday, 8/20, by the Education Department, continuing the Biden administration’s focus on targeted student debt relief…

On 8/10, President Biden nominated Amy Loyd to be the Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the Department of Education…

D.C. Update 8/9/21

Coronavirus

California will require all of its roughly 2.2 million health care workers and long-term care workers to be fully vaccinated by 9/30, with exceptions for people who decline the vaccine because of a religious belief or workers who cannot be inoculated because of a qualifying medical reason backed up by a note signed by a licensed medical professional…

For the first time since February, the US is averaging more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day…

The San Francisco Department of Public Health and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital said Tuesday, 8/3, they are allowing patients who received Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to get a second shot produced by either Pfizer or Moderna…

Half of the entire U.S. population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, White House Data Director Dr. Cyrus Shahpar announced earlier today, 8/6…

The U.S. is considering a plan to require all foreign visitors to be vaccinated for COVID-19…

Patients developed blood clotting conditions after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a "similar" rate to those who received the Pfizer shot, say researchers…

The FDA is expected to approve Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine by early September, amid a resurgence of cases that has heightened pressure on the administration to get more Americans vaccinated…

In an effort to speed forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, the government on Wednesday, 8/4, opened an online portal through which small businesses that borrowed up to $150,000 can apply to have their loans eliminated…

The Biden administration Thursday, 8/5, stepped up efforts to get more students vaccinated as the school year begins, announcing partnerships with the National PTA, pediatricians and sports organizations to reach reluctant families…

A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal of a district court's ruling denying an injunction against an Indiana University rule requiring all students to be vaccinated against COVID-19…

The Biden administration is considering using federal regulatory powers and the threat of withholding federal funds from institutions to push more Americans to get vaccinated - a huge potential shift in the fight against the virus and a far more muscular approach to getting shots into arms…

Last week, the White House announced a growing number of individuals with lingering COVID-19 symptoms could qualify for disability resources and protections…

A research brief found that nearly seven percent of students self-reported that they had COVID-19 and estimates that 1.4 million college students may have been infected with COVID-19 since January 2020…

General Update

By a vote of 68-29, last evening the Senate voted to invoke cloture on the infrastructure package…

California is in line for more than $25 billion - with a total minimum windfall expected to be $35 billion - to rebuild its highways should Congress pass a bipartisan infrastructure deal, the White House said in a statement aimed at nudging lawmakers toward support for the measure…

After final passage of the infrastructure package, the Senate is planning to consider the $3.5 trillion budget resolution…

On Tuesday, 8/3, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a moratorium on evictions for 60 days for U.S. counties with “substantial and high levels of community transmission” of COVID-19…

The Biden administration is extending the pause on federal student loans due to the COVID-19 pandemic through 1/31/2022…

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, 8/4, advanced its first three spending bills for fiscal 2022 - Agriculture-FDA, Energy & Water, and Military Construction-VA…

The IRS issued guidance Wednesday, 8/4, for companies claiming the employee retention credit through 2021…

E-cigarette maker Juul is mounting an “egregious” and “deeply disturbing” marketing campaign ahead of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision whether to allow its products to remain on the market, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said in letters to regulators…

A Quinnipiac poll released on Wednesday, 8/4, shows a 12 point dip in approval of Biden’s handling of COVID-19, from 65 percent approve-30 percent disapprove in May to 53-40 now…

Immigration Update 8/4/21

California

On Tuesday, 7/27, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill related to the state budget that would push California further out front in erasing the lines delineating the safety net programs that people who are here illegally qualify for…

The governments of California and Mexico signed an agreement in late June committing to work together to deliver on time a new border crossing at Otay Mesa by late 2024…

DACA

On 7/16, a federal judge in Texas blocked the Biden administration from approving new applications for the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program - but current DACA recipients will remain unaffected for now…

President Joe Biden said the U.S. will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that the DACA program was implemented unconstitutionally, and he renewed his call for Congress to agree on a permanent solution…

President Biden says his recent meeting with lawmakers about DACA went very well and urged lawmakers to include immigration measures in the Democrats’ broad budget reconciliation measure…

The Courts

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on 8/2 said it will resume its lawsuit against the Biden administration to force an end to the use of Title 42 to expel migrant families arriving at the border…

President and Administration

The Biden administration on Friday, 7/30, resumed fast-track deportation flights to Central America following another spike in families crossing the border into the Rio Grande Valley of Texas…

The White House is moving forward on a plan to have DHS asylum officers take over cases on the southern U.S. border, a change that would shift future asylum cases out of backlogged immigration courts…

Last week, the Biden administration released its long-awaited strategy on addressing the root causes of migration from Central America as it continues to struggle with record high numbers of apprehensions at the U.S. southern border…

Last week, the Senate confirmed immigration attorney Ur Jaddou to be director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on a party-line vote, 47-34…

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will no longer detain most pregnant, nursing and postpartum women for deportation, reversing a Trump-era rule…

Border Patrol has held newborn U.S. citizens in custody unnecessarily - sometimes for multiple nights - according to a government report released Friday, 7/30…

The Biden administration sued Texas on Friday, 7/30, a day after Attorney General Merrick Garland warned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that his order banning the transportation of migrants within the state by anyone other than law enforcement impinges on the federal government’s exclusive control over immigration matters…

The State Department says thousands more Afghans will be able to relocate to the U.S. as refugees because of the growing threat of Taliban violence…

Congress

On Thursday, 7/29, more than 90 chief executive officers, including those at Apple, Amazon, and Facebook urged Congress to pass a law offering a citizenship path to young immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children…

Weekly Update 8/2/21

California

Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation last week implementing a series of measures to make college more accessible as a part of the state’s COVID-19 recovery efforts…

On Wednesday, 7/28, California’s public health officials recommended universal masking for state residents in all public indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status, following similar guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) a day earlier…

From July 18 to 24, California providers administered an average of about 64,000 vaccines a day - about 3,100 more daily doses than the week before…

In all California counties, Medi-Cal enrollees have been vaccinated at substantially lower rates than the overall population…

A recent U.C. Berkeley poll showed that 47% of likely voters support recalling Newsom, while 50% oppose the effort…

Newsom's past energy proclamations were tied to individual heat waves that threatened to trigger rolling blackouts…

Government officials who spoke to the crowd before the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol were not shielded by their job title, the Justice Department argued in a new filing in a lawsuit brought by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)…

Coronavirus

Last week, the CDC recommended that vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans in COVID-19 hotspots wear masks indoors again, particularly in crowded indoor settings…

The efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech fell from 96% to 84% over six months, according to data released Wednesday, 7/28, a decline that could fuel Pfizer’s case that a third dose will eventually be required…

As more than 56 million children prepare to return to U.S. schools, a new analysis provides evidence that implementing routine COVID-19 testing can significantly reduce - and in some cases eliminate - in-school virus transmission… 

President Joe Biden has announced sweeping new pandemic requirements aimed at boosting vaccination rates…

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreed to allow Johnson & Johnson to extend the shelf life of its COVID-19 vaccine from four-and-a-half to six months…

Top Senate Republicans are dramatically stepping up their pro-vaccine outreach as several of their home states lag behind national COVID-19 inoculation rates and mask recommendations return in many areas…

President and Administration

Local governments, non-profit groups, state food-benefit agencies and local community organizations should engage to help poor families receive child benefits, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) report that says that immigrants, individuals with disabilities, and those who are less tech-savvy or lack reliable internet are most at risk of missing benefits…

Prevailing wage standards on publicly financed building projects are attracting a rare national spotlight as the infrastructure push heats up on Capitol Hill, raising the prospect of increased focus on federal investigations…

Congress 

The Senate is heading toward passage this week of a $550 billion infrastructure bill that would provide an infusion of federal spending on public works projects…

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said the Biden administration should extend the eviction moratorium through 10/18, in a letter also signed by other House Democratic leaders…

Last week Pelosi said that Biden doesn't have the authority to broadly cancel student loan debt…

House Democrats passed a $600 billion spending package Thursday, 7/29, in their bid to fund the government, approving millions of dollars in bipartisan community projects after a decade-long ban on earmarks…

Education

Today, 8/2, the Education Department announced it will expand the Second Chance Pell experiment for the 2022-23 award year…

Today, 8/2, the Education Department released the “Return to School Roadmap,” a resource to support students, schools, educators, and communities as they prepare to return to safe, healthy in-person learning this fall…

A federal judge largely upheld a controversial 2020 final rule on Title IX promulgated by former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, but he struck down a key provision that prohibits colleges adjudicating sexual misconduct allegations from considering statements not subject to cross-examination…

There's no shortage of evidence that the college "transfer system" is badly broken given only one in seven community college students earn a four-year degree earn one within six years, and the typical student who tries to change colleges loses 43 percent of credits…

LGBTQ adults are more likely to have federal student loans than non-LGBTQ adults, according to a new study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law…

A working paper through Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform, “School-based Mentoring Relationships and Human Capital Formation,” finds that high school students with mentors tend to earn better grades, stay in school longer, and make more money than peers who are otherwise similar to them…

The Education Department issued a Request for Information last week on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to better understand how it can be fixed…