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

HOUSE and SENATE

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on a bipartisan vote of 363-70.

By a bipartisan vote of 59-35, the U.S. Senate passed a measure that will allow it to consider legislation raising the debt limit with a simple majority vote.

Senate Democrat leadership began to release legislative text and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scores for certain sections of its version of the Build Back Better Act. As of 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on December 10, the legislative text and CBO scores for the bill’s education and workforce provisions have not been released.

The Senate confirmed Sandra Bruce to be the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Inspector General.

ADMINISTRATION

ED filed a notice for publication in the Federal register on Monday, December 13 that states the agency is withdrawing documents that it published on November 19, 2021, detailing changes related to its Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) effort for the 2021-2022 school year. The notice states that ED will submit a revised set of changes. Public comments on the CRDC effort will now be due 60 days from when the new documents are published on Monday.

ED approved Wisconsin’s State plan for the use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds under the American Rescue Plan.

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

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