We, like all of you, watched with horror as events unfolded at the Capitol last week. As members of the DC community, who have walked the halls of Congress and who have friends and colleagues who serve our country there each day, the attacks on the Capitol were deeply personal. These reprehensible attacks violated one of the most important pillars of our democracy, the peaceful transition of power, and laid bare many difficult realities around issues of racism, national security, the perception of truth and the importance of our words and actions. We hope that conversations around these issues in the coming weeks will allow our country to emerge stronger than ever and forge a new path forward. Ultimately, even with a large group of lawmakers still objecting, Congress did certify Joe Biden early Thursday morning as the 46th president of the United States, and his inauguration will be on January 20, 2021. Despite the magnitude of last Wednesday’s events, there were a few other things happening throughout the week. Here are a few other notes:
- Cabinet Members Resign: In the aftermath of Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol, several members of President Trump’s cabinet resigned, including Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Education Secretary, and Elaine Chao, the U.S. Transportation Secretary.
- Extending Student Loan Deferral: Officials from the incoming Biden Administration have stated that President-elect Biden will instruct the Department of Education to continue excusing student loan payments for an additional period of time, potentially into the fall or even later. He has also called for Congress to pass legislation providing $10,000 in loan cancellation for each borrower.
- COVID-19 Funding for Education Now Available: The Department of Education announced on Tuesday that more than $54 billion of COVID-19-related emergency relief funding is now available to support K-12 schools for learning during the pandemic. Additionally, over $4 billion was released to governors for the Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund. Both of these pots of money are from the joint appropriations and COVID-19 relief bill that was passed and signed into law on December 27, 2020.
- Results of Georgia’s Runoff Senate Election: The runoff elections in Georgia were officially called on Wednesday after both the Democratic challengers to the Senate seats defeated their Republican counterparts. Read more on our full blog.
Comments