POTUS Announces Student Aid Bill of Rights

Posted on March 10, 2015March 10, 2015

Today, President Barack Obama plans to unveil a “Student Aid Bill of Rights” designed to allow everyone to access and pay for quality higher education at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. An accompanying Presidential Memorandum contains several directives to federal agencies that officials say will make loan repayment easier and more equitable. While details are not fully known, it will mandate a complaint system where borrowers can log concerns and track responses “in a user-friendly way.” The Education Department will also be able to use the system to gauge loan servicer quality and the President will also ask the department to study how to address complaints against colleges, including potentially referring them to enforcement agencies when an institution makes misleading claims about job placements.

You can watch the President’s remarks at 1:30 p.m. ET.

The Administration’s Fact Sheet is here.

The Office of Federal Relations will provide additional information as it becomes available.

ESEA Heads for Markup Mid-April

Posted on March 9, 2015

Senators Alexander and Murray announced significant progress in negotiations with their intent to mark up the reauthorization, and potential overhaul, of No Child Left Behind or the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) the week of April 13. The senators’ announcement follows weeks of speculation over whether lawmakers will finish negotiating the bill.

The progress in the Senate is in stark contracts to the House efforts, which have stalled out. Last week, the House was slated to consider their version of the ESEA, but the measure was put on hold and eventually pulled from consideration. There is no clear timeframe on if or when the House will consider the bill.

What We’re Reading This Week, March 2-6

Posted on March 6, 2015March 6, 2015

Here’s a selection of articles of interest by the Office of Federal Relations.

Bump, Bump – An outline on the impending federal fiscal speed bumps the Congress must address this year. Read more at the CFPB Blog.

Check, Check – The most popular facts checked by The Washington Post in February. Read more at WaPo.

Power Ranking – Elizabeth Warren is positioning herself to be one of the most powerful Democrats in the country, much like her predecessor Ted Kennedy. Read a profile here at Politico.

Most Viral Video – One of the most viral videos today is a TED-like talk about China’s air pollution problem. Read about it at Legal Planet.

100+ – The number of colleges being investigated about their sexual assault compliance is now over 100. Read about it at The Chronicle.

Where to Begin? – To truly prevent sexual assault, we need to start talking about this in elementary and high schools. Read more at Governing.

Cut off at the knees – A long form piece on the efforts of John Boehner and how the very right element of his caucus undermines him. Read more at Politico.

Further Investigations – Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, sent letters to seven research universities requesting information on funding sources, testimony, and related communications of specific academics who have testified before congress on climate change. Read more at the Committee.

Biomed R&D – United for Medical Research and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation teamed up to produce a new report that examines the implications of reduced federal commitment to NIH-funded research as well as options for altering the budget process to enable continued government investment in biomedical R&D. Read the report here.

Feds Closed but Senate Holds Arctic Hearing

Posted on March 5, 2015March 6, 2015

With 4-10 inches forecast, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) held a hearing on opportunities in the Arctic today despite the federal government being shut down due to snow in the District of Columbia. UW professor Cecilia Bitz testified before the Alaskan Senator, who is also Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, on the topic. Professor Bitz was invited to testify by Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA).

The hearing can be seen here.

DHS Funding Passes House

Posted on March 3, 2015

Today, the House passed the FY2015 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In what has been a protracted standoff between the House, the Senate and the Administration, the House passed a clean bill, meaning it was free of any policy riders on immigration that the House GOP had previously attached to similar measures.

This ends a three month standoff between Congress and the Administration on the President’s recent executive order to shield approximately 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. In December, Congressional Republicans decided to pass all the FY15 appropriations bills, but for the DHS bill, in an effort to curb the President’s administrative actions, which the House GOP considers unconstitutional. The Department has been funded under a continuing resolution that expired at the end of February.

In January, the House had passed the DHS bill with restrictive funding language essentially curtailing what the Republican’s considered the Administration’s ability to follow through on the executive order. The DHS bill with the policy riders became impossible to pass through the Senate, as Senate Democrats remained unified against the riders and refused to pass anything but a stand alone bill.

Late last week, the House and Senate had to scramble to pass a short-term, one-week extension on DHS funding. Earlier in the week, the Senate passed a clean bill, which was sent to the House for consideration today.

The measure passed 257-167, with 182 Democrats and 75 Republicans voting to beat a Friday midnight deadline for DHS funding to expire. Voting against the measure were 167 Republicans, many in protest to the lack of language to block Obama’s immigration policies.

The bill now heads to the President for his signature.