HOUSE and SENATE

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have stated that negotiations on an extension of the Federal debt limit as well as increases for the Fiscal Year 2020 and 2021 spending caps for Defense and Non-Defense discretionary spending are continuing. It has been reported that the Administration provided Speaker Pelosi with a list of offsets to cover a portion of the increase in the spending caps with the goal of covering $150 billion in costs associated with increased spending. However, Democrats have reportedly rejected the Administration’s proposed offsets thus far.

ADMINISTRATION

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) approved the applications of Georgia and North Carolina to participate in the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority program under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

ED identified 62 IHEs that have been affected by an active and ongoing exploitation of a vulnerability in the Ellucian Banner (Banner) system used by many IHEs to manage student information, financial aid and other functions.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’) final Public Charge rule is at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) proposed companion Public Charge rule is also at OIRA for review.

ED is increasing its oversight of institutions of higher education (IHEs) compliance with Federal reporting requirements regarding disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts by opening investigations into IHEs over alleged failures to properly report foreign funding.

The President tweeted his intention to nominate Eugene Scalia to be the next U.S. Secretary of Labor.

EVENTS

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

• July 24: House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing “White House Office of Science and Technology Policy” at 10:15am
• July 25: Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing “Examining State and Federal Recommendations for Enhancing School Safety Against Targeted Violence” at 9:30am

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES 

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