There has been a flurry of activity on Perkins reauthorization since the overwhelmingly positive House vote last week. Most of this activity has taken place in the Senate, where leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee had originally scheduled a mark up of their Perkins reauthorization bill for Wednesday, September 21.
However, as final work on the bill continued in advance of the markup, negotiations stalled and the markup was postponed. The main issue of disagreement that has been publically cited is the issue of “secretarial authority” and prohibitions that could be placed on the Secretary related to program oversight.
Committee leaders continue to discuss a path forward for Perkins, with a possibility for action in the lame duck session after the election. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) issued a statement that included that possibility: "Congress should be able to finish its work on Perkins this year," he said. Sen. Murray (D-WA) also expressed continued desire to complete Perkins: “Senator Murray has been working with Democrats and Republicans toward a bipartisan bill to reauthorize Perkins CTE, and she is hopeful that this can continue and get done as quickly as possible," said Murray spokesman Eli Zupnick in a statement published in Politico.
ACTE and Advance CTE issued our own statement urging Congress to continue moving forward in a bipartisan manner, and we will continue working with staff on the Hill on the underlying issues in the bill.
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