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

HOUSE

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Chairman Todd Rokita (R-IN) issued a statement in support of the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) template for the submission of consolidated State plans under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Ranking Member Jared Polis (D-CO) released a statement in opposition to ED’s updated ESEA State plan template.

Chairwoman Foxx, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) and House Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane Black (R-TN) released statements on President Trump’s fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget proposal.

House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) released a statement in opposition to President Trump’s FY18 budget proposal.

Alma Adams (D-NC), Co-Chair of the Congressional Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Caucus and a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, released a statement saying that President Trump’s FY18 budget proposal negatively impacts HBCUs.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies’ hearing on ED’s budget, at which ED Secretary DeVos is scheduled to testify, has been postponed. The hearing was originally scheduled for March 22.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held a hearing to discuss strategies for improving early childhood education. The documents and webcast can be found here.

SENATE 

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) and House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Scott released a statement opposing ED’s ESEA State plan template.

HELP Committee Chairman and Ranking Member, Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Murray respectively, along with House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman and Ranking Member, Foxx and Scott respectively, sent a letter to ED Secretary DeVos asking for more information about the outage of the Internal Revenue Services’ Data Retrieval Tool (DRT), which is used by students to help complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

HELP Committee Democrats sent a letter to ED Secretary DeVos requesting information on her decision to rescind the guidance related to transgender students.

Senate Democrats sent a letter to ED Secretary DeVos requesting an explanation on ED’s decision to delay the implementation of the Gainful Employment rule.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held a hearing on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education. The documents and webcast can be found here.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) released statements on President Trump’s FY18 budget proposal.

Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT) released a statement in opposition to President Trump’s FY18 budget proposal.

ADMINISTRATION  

President Trump released his FY18 “skinny” budget proposal to Congress, which proposes $1.15 billion in discretionary spending. The budget proposes a $9.2 billion cut for ED (a reduction from $68.2 billion to $59 billion).

Federal judges in Maryland and Hawaii held hearings on President Trump’s revised executive order (EO) on immigration. Both judges issued nation-wide restraining orders on this EO prior to the order going into effect. The EO was originally scheduled to go into effect March 16.

ED Secretary DeVos sent a letter to chief State school officers and released a new template for the submission of consolidated State plans under ESEA. The template and accompanying materials can be accessed here.

ED announced the withdrawal of its Dear Colleague Letter issued during the Obama Administration that prohibited guaranty agencies from assessing fees on defaulted loans when the borrower enters an agreement for repayment within 60 days of receiving the default notice. The issue covered by the Dear Colleague Letter has also been the subject of several court cases.

ED Secretary DeVos released a statement on President Trump’s proposed FY18 budget.

EVENTS

Penn Hill Group plans to provide clients with summaries of the following events next week:

• March 21: House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development hearing on “Improving Federal Student Aid to Better Meet the Needs of Students”
• March 21: House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Technology hearing on “National Science Foundation Part II: Future Opportunities and Challenges for Science”
• March 22: Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the “Nomination of Alex Acosta to serve as Secretary of Labor”