HOUSE and SENATE

Reps. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), Jeff Denham (R-CA) and Will Hurd (R-TX) filed a discharge petition to open floor debate on four immigration proposals that deal with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee on Appropriations will accept written testimony from outside witnesses on fiscal year (FY) 2019 appropriations. The deadline to submit written testimony is Friday, June 1.

ADMINISTRATION

The Administration submitted a rescission package to Congress proposing $15.4 billion in cuts. None of the cuts were to the FY2018 Omnibus appropriations bill, and none of the cuts were to U.S. Department of Education (ED) programs. The Administration also indicated that it will submit a second and possible third round of rescissions in the coming months that is expected to target FY2018 appropriations funds.

ED approved the Alabama, Colorado and Kentucky consolidated Elementary and Secondary Education Act State plans.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) posted EDs updated Spring 2018 unified regulatory agenda, which outlines the timeline for ED regulatory action.  Included in this agenda were new higher education regulatory efforts on state authorization, accreditation, credit hour, regular and substantive requirements and issues pertaining to faith-based matters. On the updated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) regulatory agenda, student loan servicing rules was removed.

The interest rates on new Federal student loans for the coming academic year will increase by more than half of a percentage point following the U.S. Treasury Department’s sale of 10-year notes.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion released its final report to the President.

As part of a reorganization effort, CFPBs office for students & younger consumers will be folded into their office of financial education.

EVENTS

Penn Hill Group plans to provide clients with a summary of the following events next week:

• May 17: House Education and the Workforce Committee Hearing on “Protecting Privacy, Promoting Data Security: Exploring How Schools and States Keep Data Safe”

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES 

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