A quick look back at the news from last week. Compiled by Penn Hill Group.

HOUSE and SENATE

The House and Senate will be in recess until the week of November 14.

House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) and 123 other House Democrats sent a letter to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees urging them not to use the Pell Grant surplus for programs or initiatives outside of the Pell Grant program in the Fiscal Year 2017 appropriations bill.

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Higher Education and Workforce Training Subcommittee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) issued a joint statement opposing the Department of Education’s (ED) final rule on borrower defense.

A bipartisan group of 10 U.S. senators sent a letter to President Obama opposing ED’s supplement, not supplant and school accountability regulations under the Every Student Succeeds Act.

ADMINISTRATION

ED published, in the Federal Register, the final rule updating the borrower defense to repayment regulations, increasing financial responsibility requirements for institutions of higher education (IHEs), requiring the reporting of loan repayment rates by for-profit IHEs and other matters.

ED published, in the Federal Register, the final rule on the teacher preparation program accountability requirements and Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant program eligibility requirements under the Higher Education Act.

ED Secretary John King Jr. announced the expansion of the School Ambassador Fellows program to include school counselors.