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Category: Pure Politics

House Democrats Unveil HEA Legislation

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To counter the House Republican proposal to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA), the House Democrats today will introduce their own version of a reauthorization bill.  The Democrats’ package, the Aim Higher Act, will serve as their messaging document moving forward.  It is not expected to move through the legislative process.

A number of documents related to the legislation are available:

  • a detailed summary of the bill produced by the Democrats on the Education and the Workforce Committee is available here;
  • the committee Democrats have also produced a “fact sheet”; and
  • a press release about the measure is available here.

The House Republicans’ bill, the PROSPER Act, was passed by the Education and the Workforce Committee late last year but has not yet come to the floor for a vote as the committee chairwoman has not been able to generate enough support for its passage.

EPA Administrator Resigns

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President Donald Trump tweeted today that he has accepted the resignation of EPA chief Scott Pruitt. Pruitt had been the subject of numerous ethics investigations involving his travel, spending, use of staff, and favors by industry lobbyists.

The agency’s Deputy Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, will act as the agency’s leader until a new administrator is nominated by Mr. Trump and confirmed by the Senate.

Trump to Announce Sweeping Reorg of Federal Gov’t

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Today Politco is reporting that “The Trump administration is preparing to release a sweeping plan for reorganizing the federal government that includes a major consolidation of welfare programs — and a renaming of the Health and Human Services Department.

The report, set to be released in the coming weeks by the White House OMB, seeks to move safety-net programs, including food stamps, into HHS, two sources with knowledge of the plan told POLITICO. The plan would also propose changing the name of the sprawling department, while separately seeking cuts at USAID and the State Department.”

Read more from Politico and check back here for more information as it’s available.

Most of August Recess for Senate Canceled

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced today that he is cancelling most of the traditional month-long August recess.  Under the new schedule, the Senate would have a week-long recess at the beginning of August but would return to Washington for the rest of the month.

Read more about McConnell’s decision here, here, and here.  It is still possible that the August recess could be extended.

The House has not announced any changes to its August schedule.

Changes Seen on Senate Appropriations Committee

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As expected, with the resignation of Thad Cochran (R-MS), Richard Shelby (R-AL) has officially taken over the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  Along with the top spot on the full committee, Sen. Shelby has also assumed the gavel of the Defense Subcommittee, which was also led by Cochran before his resignation.

The vacancy in the top spot on the Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee created by Shelby’s move to Defense has been filled by Jerry Moran (R-KS).

Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to fill the remainder of Cochran’s term by the governor of Mississippi, has taken his seat on the full committee.