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Category: Higher Education

House Updates HEROES Act

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House Democrats have released an updated, smaller, “HEROES Act 2.0”, totaling approximately $2.2 trillion. This COVID relief bill would provide support for small businesses, airline workers, childcare, food security, the Census, education, local governments, and healthcare. Specifically, $39 billion would go to colleges and universities, $3 billion would go to research relief for NIH, and $2.9 billion would go to research relief for NSF. Research relief for other agencies is not included.

A one-pager is available here.

A vote is expected in the coming days. The Senate is not expected to take action, however negotiations between House Democrats, Senate Republicans, and the Administration continue.

Senate Hearing on FAFSA Simplification

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The US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) will hold a hearing on simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Witnesses are from the National College Attainment Network, University of North Carolina, HCM Strategies, Harvard University, and Columbia University.

  • Title: Time to Finish Fixing the FAFSA
  • Date and Time: Thursday, September 17th, 2020 at 7:00 am PT/10:00 am ET
  • Link to watch live is here.

Dept. of Education Publishes Final Rule on Religious Liberty

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In a press statement, the US Department of Education announced the publication of the final rule Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, and Accountability at Colleges and Universities. The rule will be effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

The final rule intends to “ensure that public institutions of higher education uphold fundamental rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and that private institutions of higher education adhere to their own policies regarding freedom of speech, including academic freedom”.

Among other things, the press statement outlines major aspects of the rule, including :

  • Requires that public institutions must comply with the 1st Amendment as a requirement to receive Department grants.
  • Clarifies how private institutions may demonstrate they are controlled by a religious organization for the purposes of Title IX.
  • Ensures equal treatment of religious student organizations at public colleges and universities.
  • Revises regulations governing some discretionary grant programs under Titles III and V of the Higher Education Act of 1964, as amended. The rule more narrowly tailors the prohibition on the use of these grants to religious instruction, religious worship, or proselytization.

The full press statement and link to fact sheet is available here.

 

Meanwhile, the FY2021 Appropriations Bills Move Along

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While most of the public’s attention is focused on the difficult negotiations that may or may not be taking placing on the next COVID relief package, the clock continues to count down to the start of FY2021.

The House is working to adopt a second “minibus” of spending bills before this weekend.  Instead of taking up a seven-bill package as originally planned, the chamber is now considering one made up of six pieces, having removed the almost-always-controversial Homeland Security measure from the minibus.  More than 300 amendments are expected to be debated before a vote to adopt the legislation.

This week’s package is made up of:  Commerce-Justice-Science; Defense; Energy and Water; Labor-HHS-Education; Financial Services-General Government; and Transportation-HUD bills.  Last week, the House cleared the Agriculture, Interior, State-Foreign Operations, and VA-Military Construction measures.  This leaves the Homeland Security and Legislative Branch bills for future consideration.

The Senate still has yet to produce any of the 12 bills.

House Appropriations Process Marches On

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The FY2021 appropriations process continues to march on in the House, for now, with two more bills slated for committee action today. This afternoon, the Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take up the Labor-HHS-Education and Energy and Water Development bills.

Labor-HHS-Education

As part of the  overall level of $47 billion for NIH, the Labor-HHS-Education bill would fund:

  • HIV/AIDS Research at $3.1 billion
  • Alzheimer’s research at $2.9 billion

In addition, AHRQ would be funded at $343 million

Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) Title VII health professions and Title VIII nursing  programs would be funded at $512.5 million and $270.0 million, respectively.

The Labor-HHS report also includes the following language with respect to the reporting of foreign gifts that meet certain criteria:

Disclosure of Foreign Gifts and Contracts.—The Committee reminds colleges and universities receiving Federal funds that section 117 of the HEA requires institutions to disclose certain gifts from or contracts with foreign entities and that the Department makes such information publicly available on its website. The Committee directs the Department to work with institutions to improve the reporting process. Disclosure requirements increase transparency and help protect our national security and academic integrity.

In addition to the funding levels for the programs we reported on last week, the House bill would also fund Title VI International Education programs at $80.3 million (an increase of $4.2 million), GAANN at $24.0 million (an increase of $1 million), and the Institute of Education Sciences at $630.5 million (an increase of $7 million).

Energy and Water

The Energy and Water Development bill under consideration today calls for $2.85 billion for the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EER&E) programs, an increase of $58 million.  Within EER&E, renewable energy programs would see a cut of $4 million and would be supported at $638 million.

The bill calls for ARPA-E to be funded at $1.02 billion, which represents an increase of $35 million.

The Office of Science would see $7.05 billion under this bill, an increase of $50 million.  Following programs within Science would be funded in the following manner:

  • Advanced Scientific Computing–  $1.02 billion (+$35 million)
  • Basic Energy Sciences– $2.24 billion (+$29 million)
  • Biological and Environmental Research–  $760 million (+$10 million)
  • Fusion– $680 million (+$9 million)
  • High Energy Physics– $1.08 billion (+$5 million)
  • Nuclear Physics– $715 million (+$2 million)