CONGRESS

The U.S. House of Representatives elected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Speaker of the House for the 119^th Congress.

U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law a fiscal year 2025 Continuing Resolution, funding the Federal government at largely current levels through March 14. While this law included $100 billion in disaster assistance and a one-year extension on the farm bill, reauthorizations of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and the Older Americans Act were not ultimately attached to this measure.

The House proposed a rules package for the 119^th Congress, which included renaming the House Education and the Workforce Committee as the House “Committee on Education and Workforce” and allowing certain bills, including one to amend Title IX to recognize sex based on a person’s biological and genetic sex at birth for compliance purposes, to be considered during the early days of this Congress. Regarding the latter, the rules package does not name a specific bill.

U.S. Senate leadership announced committee membership for the 119^th Congress. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee includes 12 Republican Members (full list found here) and 11 Democrat members (full list found here).

ADMINISTRATION

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) released a final rule on Distance Education and Return of Title IV (R2T4) funds. It is worth noting that the rule’s requirement to report on online enrollment will become effective July 1, 2027 (as opposed to July 1, 2026 when the rest of the package would become effective). Also, notably, the package does not include substantive expansions to TRIO program eligibility; a requirement for distance education courses to take attendance for R2T4 purposes; or any prohibition on asynchronous clock hour programs via distance education, as was proposed in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).

ED withdrew a proposed rule that would have removed the requirement for schools to obtain parental consent before accessing public benefits or insurance to pay for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B services.

ED published the official earnings thresholds for the 2024 Gainful Employment and Fair Value Transparency earnings test.

U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen wrote a letter to Congressional leadership warning that the country will soon hit its debt ceiling limit.