Congress had a busy week last week before a long Memorial Day weekend. The week was capped off on Friday, when President Biden released his full FY 2022 federal budget proposal. The total budget proposal included $6 trillion, including funds for FY 2022 appropriations, as well as a breakdown of proposed spending under the previously released American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan. A $20 million increase was proposed for the Perkins Basic State Grant. You can read more about the proposed budget in our full blog post. Here are a few other notes from last week:
- Senators Reintroduce Legislation to Increase Student Success and Career Readiness: Co-chairs of the Senate CTE Caucus Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Todd Young (R-IN) reintroduced the Assisting Community Colleges in Educating Skilled Students (ACCESS) to Careers Act. The bill would establish a community college and career training grant program to provide funding for states and community colleges to increase student success and career readiness, such as increasing work-based learning opportunities, ensuring students have access to support services and creating career pathways for in-demand jobs. ACTE supports this legislation.
- Education Secretary Discusses Importance of Pell Grants for Incarcerated Students: On Tuesday, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona hosted a virtual roundtable discussion with current and former incarcerated students to discuss the importance of Pell Grants. The discussion centered around the students’ stories and potential strategies for providing access to high-quality postsecondary education opportunities to incarcerated students in the future.
- Department of Education Announces Public Hearings on Postsecondary Regulations: The Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education announced it will host virtual public hearings to receive stakeholder feedback on potential issues for federal rulemaking, including ability to benefit, gainful employment, protections for students, loan repayment, targeted loan cancellation programs and other postsecondary issues. The purpose of this feedback is to help identify topics for the establishment of negotiated rulemaking committees to prepare proposed regulations for programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act. The hearings will be held on June 21, 23 and 24.
- HELP Committee Holds Labor Nomination Hearings: On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on the nominations of Rajesh Nayak for Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy, Taryn Mackenzie Williams for Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy, and Doug Parker for Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. The committee will next vote on whether to confirm these nominees to their respective positions.
- Education and Labor Committee Holds Hearing on WIOA Reauthorization: On Wednesday, the House Education and Labor Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee held a hearing titled, “Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Reauthorization: Creating Employment Pathways for Dislocated Workers.” The hearing was intended to share strategies to support dislocated workers and help workers avoid future displacement through lifelong learning.
- Department of Education releases new COVID-19 Funding FAQs: On May 26, the Department of Education released a new set of frequently asked questions for states and school districts related to the use of American Rescue Plan funds for K-12 education, including through the Education and Secondary Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund. Don’t forget, you can find more info on using these funds to support CTE in our recent publication, “High-quality CTE During COVID-19: Leveraging Federal Relief Funds at the Local Level.”
- Infrastructure Proposal Moves Froward: On Thursday, Senate Republicans made another counteroffer on the Administration’s infrastructure plan, this one totaling about $928 billion, still far short of the president’s goals. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that negotiations have been healthy between Republicans and the White House. Negotiations will continue for now, but a decision will be made soon about whether to continue bi-partisan negotiations or move forward with the proposal in Congress.
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