CONGRESS

Congress passed, and President Trump signed into law, H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

ADMINISTRATION

The U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) Office for Civil Rights revealed in a court filing that it dismissed 3,424 complaints between March 11 and June 27.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it will cap the amount that publishers can charge government-funded researchers to make their work open-access starting in fiscal year 2026.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released a report, revealing that nearly 7.2 million Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms submitted between December 2023 and April 2024 contained inaccurate tax data due to the IRS failing to follow proper procedures.

The U.S. Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture released new interpretations that apply the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 ban on public benefits for individuals without legal status to be in the U.S. to certain programs the agencies administer.

COURTS

The Supreme Court lifted a preliminary injunction, halting the implementation of mass reduction in force across 21 agencies, including DOL. Notably, ED was not impacted by this court ruling.

EVENTS

Penn Hill Group plans on providing clients with a summary of the following event next week:

July 15: House Education and Workforce Full Committee Hearing titled “Antisemitism in Higher Education: Examining the Role of Faculty, Funding, and Ideology.”

July 17: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Full Committee Hearing titled “Freedom to Work: Unlocking Benefits for Independent Workers.”