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

HOUSE and SENATE

The U.S Senate voted to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed on the bipartisan infrastructure agreement, beginning the process of floor consideration for this legislation.

The House of Representatives passed a seven-bill Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Appropriations minibus package which included the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill funding the U.S. Department of Education (ED), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee rescheduled its vote on the nomination of Catherine Lhamon to be Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at ED for August 3.

ADMINISTRATION 

ED issued a notice requesting public comments on the ways in which the agency can improve administration of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program.

ED announced it would release nearly $600 million in funding under the American Rescue Plan Act’s Homeless Children and Youth (ARP-HCY) to support students experiencing homelessness.

ED announced $3.2 billion in additional emergency grants under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund to support more than 1,800 institutions of higher education (IHEs).

ED announced the expansion of the Second Chance Experimental site initiative providing Pell grants to incarcerated individuals at 200 institutions.

EVENTS
Penn Hill Group plans on providing clients a summary of the following events next week:

August 3: The Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on “Student Loan Bankruptcy Reform.”

August 3: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee holds a markup of S. 1486 (117), the “Pregnant Workers Fairness Act”; S. 1543 (117), the “Suicide Training and Awareness Nationally Delivered for Universal Prevention Act”; S. 2425 (117), the “Suicide Prevention Lifeline Improvement Act”; and S. 2401 (117), the “21st Century Assistive Technology Act”; and to vote on the nominations of David Weil to be administrator of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division; Catherine Elizabeth Lhamon to be assistant Education secretary for civil rights; and Javier Ramirez to be director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. 

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