CONGRESS

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a markup of several bills, including H.R. 7757, the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act; H.R. 2657, Sammy’s Law; and H.R. 3149, the App Store Accountability Act. H.R. 7757 passed the Committee by a 28 to 24 margin, H.R. 2657 by a 36 to 16 margin and H.R. 3149 by a 26 to 23 margin. The bills are now available to proceed to the House floor for consideration. In addition, the Committee was scheduled to debate H.R. 6291, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, during this markup; however, this bill was not ultimately considered.

The House Committee on Education and Workforce held a markup of H.R. 7720, the Child Care Payment Integrity and Fraud Accountability Act; H.R. 7721, the Combating Regulatory Abuse, Closing Known Deficiencies, and Overseeing Waste Nationwide (CRACKDOWN) Act; H.R. 7722, the Child Care Integrity Monitoring Act; H.R. 7723, the Safeguarding Taxpayer Dollars in Child Care Act; H.R. 7724, the No Waivers for Fraud Act; H.R. 7725, the Stop Child Care Fraud Act; H.R. 7677, the Closing the Provider Fraud Gap Act; and H.R. 7726, the No Funds for Repeat Child Care Violations Act. H.R. 7720 and H.R. 7721 passed by a 19 to 15 margin; H.R. 7722, H.R. 7723, H.R. 7724 and H.R. 7726 passed by a 20 to 15 margin; and H.R. 7725 and H.R. 7677 passed unanimously. The bills are now available to proceed to the House floor for consideration.

The House passed H.R. 6472, the Territorial Student Access to Higher Education Act.

Chair of the House Committee on Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, Burgess Owens (R-UT), announced he would not seek reelection in November.

ADMINISTRATION

Today, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released, in pre-published form, proposed regulations pertaining to Workforce Pell Grants and other Pell Grant matters. The proposed regulation is scheduled to be published as a notice of proposed rulemaking on March 9, 2026.

At the Federal Student Aid Training Conference, Under Secretary of ED Nicholas Kent reaffirmed that the centralized Common Manual for servicing and collection practices and policies under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program will be published by July 1, 2026.

The Administration sent the Senate the nomination of James O’Neill to be Director of the National Science Foundation for a term of six years.

COURTS

An appellate court denied ED’s motion to block the district court’s permanent injunction regarding ED’s discontinuation of multi-year grants for mental health related programs.

EVENTS

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

March 12: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Full Committee Hearing titled “Transparency and Trust: Exposing Malign Foreign Influence in Higher Education.”