After a multi-week “will he or won’t he?”, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has officially announced that he will run for Speaker. Ryan, popular among GOP and Democrats, will be voted in next week.
News and updates
Debt Ceiling Plan Alludes House GOP
The U.S. government is 12 calendar days – or 7 scheduled congressional work days – from reaching the debt limit without a clear plan of what to do. GOP leaders are so far refusing to advance a ‘clean’ debt ceiling bill that both President Obama and Democrats would support. The problem there is that the GOP leadership can’t find the 30 Republican votes they would need to join with all 188 Democrats to pass such a proposal.
One option under discussion is a proposal from the conservative Republican Study Committee, which would require House committees to produce legislation to enact spending cuts contained in the budget resolution – basically a series of cuts to equal the amount raised for the debt ceiling. This type of measure is unlikely to get a vote and even if it did, the President and Senate Democrats would block its passage. They are insisting on a ‘clean’ debt ceiling increase or suspension.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has estimated that he would exhaust “extraordinary measures” to extend the government’s borrowing authority by November 3, 2015.
Read more from Politico here.
What We’re Reading This Week
Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is reading this week.
Old Building$$ – While specifically about aging infrastructure on college campuses of agricultural research buildings, it really rings true about much of campus science-related infrastructure and the fact that deferred maintenance continues to be delayed. Read more at Ag Web.
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Cracking Down on Accreditors – Before he leaves office, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is preparing to unveil a package of proposals aimed at forcing colleges that receive federal money to improve graduation rates and to provide students with job skills by focusing on the accrediting agencies. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
Speaker Ryan? – Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced that he will seek the position of Speaker, provided that he has the support of the whole House GOP caucus. The House Freedom Caucus is a little wary about his “demands” saying he’s setting them up for the blame if he ultimately doesn’t run. Read more at Politico.
Deep Pockets – There are five races right now where the deep pockets, and self-funding, of the candidates could have a significant impact on who wins. Read more at Roll Call.
Dress for Success – Looking the part is half the battle in DC. And that look is mainly Brooks BrothersHow do you look like a staffer and land that job? Read more at Roll Call.
October 21, 2015 – It was Back to the Future Day this week! How did the future stack up to the 1980s vision? Cars don’t fly but we do have holograms (not that eat you) and hoverboards (kinda, but they’re not the norm), but the Cubs might have a chance at winning the World Series! Read more at the New York Times and at Vulture and at Vox.
To celebrate the release of the long awaited, much anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer, here’s some background on how lightsabers get their different colors. Read it at Vox.
Biden NOT Running for President
After weeks of speculation and “Draft Biden” efforts, the Vice President today announced that he is not going to run for President.
GI Benefits Returned Because of Bad Actors?
Last week, The Defense Department’s chief of voluntary education, Dawn Bilodeau, recently placed the chain of for-profit colleges on probation and said no new active duty service members can enroll under its tuition assistance program. The University of Phoenix is the most popular destination for Post-9/11 GI Bill college goers. This prohibition could be a hot topic today as an education advisory committee to the Veterans Affairs Department Secretary gathers for a two-day meeting starting today. Bilodeau sits on the advisory committee and the University of Phoenix has RSVP’d for the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Education Department has been working with the Defense and Justice departments on an ongoing investigation. University of Phoenix President Timothy Slottow recently wrote to hundreds of thousands of alumni and students to defend the schools’ track record.
The Defense Department’s action does not affect veterans using the GI Bill. And yet, some veterans advocacy groups say the VA should be more aggressive about cutting off GI Bill dollars when schools have deceived students.
It is possible that the meeting will address whether GI Bill recipients, who attended the now-defunct chain of Corinthian schools, should have their benefits reset, which would require congressional action.