The House and Senate were back in session last week after a two-week long break and the focus was primarily on the infrastructure bill proposal. President Biden hosted a bipartisan group of lawmakers to discuss the proposal last Monday, but both sides of the aisle are very far apart on the price tag of the $2.25 trillion package. The timeline of the bill is uncertain, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hoping to complete work in the House by July. Here are a few other notes from last week:
- HELP Committee Holds Hearing on the Nomination of James Kvaal: On April 15, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on the nomination of James Kvaal to serve as undersecretary of education. During the hearing, Sen. Kaine (D-VA) asked Kvaal about his support for expanding Pell Grant eligibility to short-term job training programs. You can read a full recap of the hearing in this blog post.
- Kaine, Portman Reintroduce Builds Act: The Building U.S. Infrastructure by Leveraging Demands for Skills (BUILDS) Act, a major infrastructure priority of ACTE’s, was reintroduced in the House and Senate. This bill promotes sector partnerships made up of local businesses and industry organizations, workforce boards, labor representatives, and education and training providers to support workforce training programs in infrastructure-related jobs. The BUILDS Act is supported by Advance CTE, ACTE, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Skills Coalition, Jobs for the Future, the National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues, and the National League of Cities. View the press release here.
- CDC Launches the Higher Education COVID-19 Community of Practice: The CDC awarded the American College Health Association $450,000 to launch a new Higher Education COVID-19 Community of Practice to share campus-wide information about mitigation strategies for COVID-19. The initiative provides several resources for postsecondary campuses to use, such as an online repository of resources including a discussion board, a twice-monthly webinar series, a planning toolkit for campuses interested in creating a public health ambassador program, and an online database for colleges to upload information about their campus practices.
- National Groups Support President Biden’s Education Investment: On behalf of 100 education organizations, including ACTE, the Community for Education Funding sent a letter to Members of Congress urging them to support the increase in education investments in President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2022 discretionary request . The President’s proposal includes $102.8 billion for the Department of Education, a $29.8 billion or 41% increase over the 2021 enacted level.
- White House Announces its Intent to Nominate Gwen Graham to the Department of Education: The White House announced its intent to nominate Gwen Graham as the Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Affairs at the Department of Education. Graham has served as a public service leader in Florida’s local public schools and was a Member of Congress. She also practiced law with a focus on public education earlier in her career. Read Education Secretary Cardona’s statement on her nomination.
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