CONGRESS

The U.S. House of Representatives advanced the Administration’s rescissions request by a 214 to 212 vote.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released text representing the Committee’s portion of the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill. The Committee-provided section-by-section can be found here.

ADMINISTRATION

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced a new temporary financial aid verification requirement for colleges and universities to prevent identity theft and fraud in Federal student aid programs for the Summer and Fall 2025 semesters.

In a court filing, ED disclosed that the agency had signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Labor regarding the transfer of administration of some career, technical and adult education grants. This same filing disclosed that ED had also signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Treasury regarding the detail of ED staff to Treasury to support student loan collections. Both of these memorandums have been halted in light of recent Federal court rulings pertaining to ED’s reorganization and reductions in force.

Hundreds of National Institutes of Health (NIH) staffers signed a letter expressing their opposition “to Administration policies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe.”

All members of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board resigned, citing political influence by the Trump Administration as their rationale.

COURTS

Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) and the State of Tennessee filed a lawsuit against ED, challenging the constitutionality of the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) grant program under Title V of the Higher Education Act.