HOUSE and SENATE

The House passed the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act (H.R.7010) by a 417 to 1 vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) publicly signaled that negotiations on another COVID-19 relief package would begin in the “next month or so.”

ADMINISTRATION

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said, in a letter to the Council of Chief State School Officers, that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) intends issue a rule regarding the equitable participation requirements included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P.L.116-136).

ED updated its webpage for the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund-FIPSE program created under the CARES Act, informing institutions of higher education (IHEs) that “revisions are being made in the formula allocation table and methodology for [the] program.” This program is designed to distribute funding to IHEs with the greatest unmet need, particularly to those that received less than $500,000 in other HEER funding.

A Federal judge granted preliminary approval of a legal settlement that would require ED to process nearly 170,000 pending Borrower Defense to Repayment (BDR) claims within 18 months and cancel debt for approved claims within 21 months.

ED approved the career and technical education (CTE) State plans for Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.

ED published guidance on providing services to English learners during the COVID-19 outbreak.

ED’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a letter of impending enforcement action to school districts in Connecticut, arguing that the districts violated Title IX when implementing the State’s policy which requires schools to allow transgender students to play on sports teams that match their gender identity.

The Administration is planning to cancel the visas of Chinese graduate students and researchers in the U.S. who have affiliations with Chinese IHEs associated with the Chinese military.

EVENTS

Penn Hill Group plans to provide clients with a summary of the following event next week:

• June 4: Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on “COVID-19: Going Back to College Safely”

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

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