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Year: 2014

This Week in Committees

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Here are a few committee hearings we’ll be following this week.

THURSDAY, JULY 28

House Energy & Commerce Committee
Patient Care Legislation (HR 4067)
Subcommittee Markup
3 PM; 2123 Rayburn House Building

FRIDAY, JULY 29

House Science, Space & Technology
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program
Subcommittee Hearing
10 AM; 2318 Rayburn House Building

SATURDAY, JULY 30

Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation
Aviation Manufacturing
Subcommittee Hearing
10:30 AM; 253 Russell Senate Building

SUNDAY, JULY 31

Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs
Financial Products and Education
Full Committee Hearing
10 AM; 538 Dirksen Senate Building

House Small Business Committee
Telemedicine and Small Medicine Practices
Subcommittee Hearing
10 AM; 2360 Rayburn House Building

Rep. Ryan Anti-Poverty Plan and Higher Education

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On Thursday, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced what he is calling  a new anti-poverty plan that proposes sweeping changes to the safety net through a state-led pilot program. Announced at the the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Ryan’s plan calls for streamlining the student-aid system, capping federal loans to parents and graduate students, a database for tracking recipients of federal aid, and further consolidation of federal job-training programs.

Big focus points that impact higher education include:

  • Simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
  • Modernize and reform the Pell program.
  •  Cap federal loans to graduate students and parents.
  • Consider reforms to the TRIO programs.
  • Expand funding for federal Work-Study programs.
  • Build stronger partnerships with post-secondary institutions.
  • Reform the accreditation process.

Some of the proposals in Thursday’s plan mirror ideas in the House Republican road map for reauthorization, including replacing the current patchwork of federal student-aid programs with one grant, one loan, and one work-study program. Both plans would make Pell Grants available year-round, creating “flex” funds that students could draw from until they graduated or exhausted their eligibility for aid. Also, both would remake federal college-access programs, with Mr. Ryan’s plan suggesting a single program.

But the Ryan plan offers more specifics than does the House Republican list, particularly when it comes to accreditation. His plan would make it easier for new accreditors to gain federal approval and would allow accreditors to recognize specific courses, not just colleges or programs.

The plan also calls for the creation of a “Commission on Evidence-Based Policy Making” that would explore whether, and how, to create a federal clearinghouse that could link anonymous participants across programs to provide a more complete picture of their effectiveness. The clearinghouse might also contain state, local, and educational data sets, like National Student Clearinghouse.

As this proposal and others continue to be introduced and move through Congress, the Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor and update this issue.

House Passes Black-Davis Student and Family Tax Simplification Act

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The House passed H.R. 3393, the Student and Family Tax Simplification Act (Black-Davis), by a vote of 227-187 yesterday. The bill combines four education tax benefits into a new, permanent American Opportunity Tax Credit. The higher education community has raised concerns about how the bill impacts nontraditional and graduate students. These concerns were echoed in floor debate by Ranking Member Levin and Representatives Doggett, Rangel, Polis, and Kind.

Republicans who voted for the bill noted that consolidating several tuition tax credits will simplify the tax code and make it easier for students and families take advantage of this tax benefit.

Democrats who voted against the bill cited the fact that there is no funding offset. As such, the bill is unlikely to be taken up in its present form in the Senate.

House Passes Series of Student-focused Bills

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The House considered a series of higher education bills this week designed to increase transparency and education for student in how to pay for college.

On Wednesday, the House passed the Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act (H.R. 3136) sponsored by Representative Matt Salmon (R-AZ), Susan Brooks (R-IN) and Jared Polis (D-CO). The bill would:

  • Promotes innovation in higher education by directing the secretary of education to implement competency-based education demonstration projects.
  • Provides accountability by requiring an annual evaluation of each demonstration project to determine program quality.
  • Delivers greater flexibility to institutions that want to provide students a more personalized, cost-effective education.

H.R. 3136 passed the House by a vote of 414 to 0. To learn more about the bill, click here. 

On Thursday, the House considered H.R. 4984 – Empowering Students Through Enhanced Counseling Act, which would change the requirements for the counseling of students who participate in the federal student aid programs, such as federal student loans and Pell grants.   This bill expands the counseling requirements for borrowers (yearly) and includes counseling on Pell eligibility. This Pell counseling provision may have been spurred with the proposed flex Pell system, allowing year-round Pell,  as outlined in the House Education and Workforce Committee principles document. The measure would promote financial literacy counseling for students so they have more information before making financial aid choices.It would:

  • Require the secretary of education to create a consumer-tested College Dashboard that would display key information students need when deciding which school to attend.
  • Instruct the secretary to provide a link to the page of each institution listed on a student’s FAFSA to make sure students know this information is available.
  • Streamline and eliminates unnecessary information and federal transparency initiatives.

Rep. Derek Kilmer offered and amendment to the measure which would ensure each individual is aware of financial management resources provided by the Treasury Department’s Financial Literacy and Education Commission. The amendment was adopted by a vote of  404 – 14 

H.R. 4983 passed the House by voice vote.