HOUSE and SENATE

The House and Senate are both in recess and will return the week of September 9th.

ADMINISTRATION

The President signed into law a budget that would raise the U.S.’s debt limit and increase the budget caps for Fiscal Years (FYs) 2020 and 2021.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) updated its recent cybersecurity alert regarding a potential vulnerability in the Ellucian Banner (Banner) system used by many institutions of higher education (IHEs) to manage student information, financial aid and other functions. ED now reports that it has not found any instances where the Banner vulnerability was exploited, after initially saying it identified 62 IHEs affected by the vulnerability.

ED approved California’s plan to come into compliance with the Obama-era State Authorization rule. The plan details a new process to give California online students enrolled at public and private nonprofit IHEs outside of California a way to submit complaints about their IHEs.

ED’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating a complaint about a Connecticut policy that allows transgender girls to participate in girls’ athletics.

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES 

Penn Hill Group provides a list of grant opportunities and summaries for select grants. Please visit our website for more information.