HOUSE

The House Education and the Workforce Committee will hold a committee hearing on the policies and priorities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Tuesday, March 15. HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell will testify.

The House Education and the Workforce Committee will hold a committee hearing on the policies and priorities of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Wednesday, March 16. DOL Secretary Thomas Perez will testify.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies will hold a subcommittee hearing on DOL’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 budget request on Tuesday, March 15. Secretary Perez will testify.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies will hold a subcommittee hearing on the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) FY2017 budget request on Wednesday, March 16. NSF Director France Cordova will testify.

SENATE

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 16–6 to advance Dr. John King’s nomination to be U.S. Secretary of Education. The full Senate is scheduled to vote on King’s nomination on Monday, March 14, at 5:30 pm.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies will hold a subcommittee hearing on DOL’s FY2017 budget request on Thursday, March 17. Secretary Perez will testify.

Thirty-five Senate Democrats sent a letter to President Obama urging the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to adopt changes to draft regulations on defense of repayment. House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) and House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) also sent a letter. The negotiated rulemaking panel developing regulations on this issue reconvenes this Wednesday, March 16, for its third and final session.

ADMINISTRATION

The White House announced James Kvaal, Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC), is departing after nearly seven years of serving the Administration at DPC and ED. DPC’s Chief of Staff, Katherine Kochman, will replace him.

President Obama announced the ConnectALL Initiative, an effort to connect 20 million more Americans to broadband by 2020.

Following the Inspector General’s report of student loan servicers’ compliance with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, ED announced it would refund money to all military borrowers who were charged more than six percent interest on their federal student loans between 2009 and July 2014.