HOUSE and SENATE

The House and Senate were in recess this week and will return next week.

The House was blocked from passing a disaster relief package by unanimous consent that would provide $165 million in funding for schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs) and $55 million for Head Start programs affected by recent natural disasters.

Former Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) passed away on May 30 at the age of 81. Senator Cochran served as the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee from 2005 to 2007 and 2015 to 2018.

The deadline to submit written testimony to the Senate Labor, Health and Human Service, and Education (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 budget is June 3.

OTHER NEWS

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Doe v. Boyertown Area School District case, which challenged a Pennsylvania school district’s bathroom policy allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms that align with their gender identity. This leaves in place the U.S. 3^rd Circuit Court of Appeals decision in favor of the school district’s policy.

The National Student Clearinghouse reported that college enrollment overall has decreased for the eighth straight year, with enrollment declining 1.7 percent, or by 300,000 students, compared to last year.

EVENTS

Penn Hill plans to provide clients with summaries of the following events next week:

• June 4: House Education and Labor Subcommittee hearing on “Examining the Policies and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service” at 10:15am
• June 5: House Education and Labor Subcommittee hearing on “This is Not a Drill: Education-Related Response and Recovery in the Wake of Natural Disasters” at 9:00am

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES 

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