Below is an abridged version of RAMC’s weekly Washington Wrap Up. Find out more about Wrap Up and other RAMC resources here.

CONGRESS

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a markup of H.R. 6914, the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act and reported the bill favorably to the full House on a 24-17 vote.

House Committee on Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) sent a letter to four institutions of higher education regarding their tax exemption status.

ADMINISTRATION

ED concluded the first of three negotiated rulemaking sessions on institutional quality and program integrity.

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

Education News Headlines
[Click on the link to read the article online]

Amid National Backlash, Colleges Brace for Fresh Wave of Anti-DEI Legislation [The Chronicle of Higher Education]

Fresh Battle Lines in the Testing Wars [Inside Higher Education]

White House readies more student debt relief as Biden loan plan enrollment nears 7M [Politico]

5 higher education lawsuits to keep an eye on in 2024 [Higher Ed Dive]

House probes of Harvard, others mark a “watershed moment” [Inside Higher Education]

Committee News and Schedule, Schedule for House and Senate Floor:

Senate Majority Leader

Press Release: Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks In Support Of The Newly Announced Bipartisan, Bicameral Tax Framework That Would Expand The Child Tax Credit And The Low Income Housing Tax Credit

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

January 18: Full Committee Hearing on ““Addressing Long COVID: Advancing Research and Improving Patient Care”

Witnesses: Panel I: Angela Meriquez Vázquez, M.S.W., Long COVID Patient, Los Angeles, CA; Rachel Beale, M.B.A., Long COVID Patient, Southampton County, VA; Nicole Heim, Parent of Long COVID Patient, Winchester, VA. Panel II:Michelle Harkins, M.D., Professor of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM; Ziyad Al-Aly, M.D., Clinical Epidemiologist, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO; Charisse Madlock-Brown, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Health Informatics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA;Tiffany Walker, M.D., Assistant Professor, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA.

430 Dirksen and via webcast

10:00 a.m. ET

Press Release: What They Are Saying: Opposition Grows Against New Biden Policy Threatening Gig Economy, 27 Million American Workers

House Minority Leader

Press Release: Dear Colleague on the Continuing Resolution

House Committee on Education and the Workforce

Press Release: Foxx, Good Lambast PBGC for Refusing to Recover $127 Million in Taxpayer Money Sent to Ghost Pensions

Press Release: Ranking Member Scott Urges ED to Prevent Further Delays in FAFSA Processing

Press Release: Foxx, Bean, Williams: Biden’s Border Failures Are Hurting Students

Press Release: Chairwoman Foxx Delivers Opening Remarks and Markup to Support Pregnant Students and Curtail Human Trafficking

January 10: Full Committee Markup on H.R. XXX, Pregnant Students’ Rights Act; H.R. 443, Enhancing Detection Of Human Trafficking Act

2172 Rayburn and via webcast

10:15 a.m. EST

House Committee on Oversight & Accountability

January 17: Subcommittee Hearing on “Toward an AI-Ready Workforce”

Witnesses: Dr. Martial Hebert, Dean, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University; Ms. Timi Hadra, Client Partner and Senior Executive for West Virginia, IBM; Dr. Richard Levin, Former President, Yale University and Senior Advisor, Coursera

2154 Rayburn and via webcast

2:00 p.m. ET

House Committee on Budget 

Press Release: Chairman Arrington, Chairwoman Foxx Demand Transparency on the Cost of Biden’s Newest Student Loan Bailout Scheme

House Committee on Ways and Means

Press Release: Chairman Smith: Elite Universities Failing to Protect Jewish Students Calls into Question Their Tax-Exempt Status

U.S. Department of Education and the Administration

ED Media Advisory: Secretary Cardona to Visit New Hampshire to Highlight Debt Forgiveness Programs and Discuss Rise in Antisemitism and Islamophobia on College Campuses

IES Press Release: Enrollment and Employees in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2022; and Financial Statistics and Academic Libraries, Fiscal Year 2022 (Provisional Data)

Legislative Movement in Congress:

H.R.6914 — Pregnant Students’ Rights Act

Sponsor: Hinson, Ashley [Rep.-R-IA-2] (Introduced 01/05/2024) Cosponsors: (2)

Committees: House – Education and the Workforce

Latest Action: House – 01/10/2024 Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.

H.R.6987 — To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to strengthen student visa background checks and improve the monitoring of foreign students in the United States, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Bilirakis, Gus M. [Rep.-R-FL-12] (Introduced 01/12/2024) Cosponsors: (0)

Committees: House – Judiciary

Latest Action: House – 01/12/2024 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Federal Education Training and Grant Opportunities, Notices:

ED Notice: Connecting Adults to Success: Career Navigator Training Study (CATS Study). Comments due on or before January 22, 2024.

NSF Grant Notice: Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science. Applications due on or before January 29, 2024.

ED Comment Request: Migrant Student Information Exchange User Application Form. Comments are due on or before March 11, 2024.

ED Notice: Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship Program and Faculty Research Abroad Fellowship Program.