On Tuesday, the Senate passed a sweeping proposal that would provide more than $200 billion to aid American manufacturing, technology, research and development, in an effort to quell China’s growing economic influence worldwide.
As we reported last week, an amendment introduced by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Rob Portman (R-OH) that would expand Pell Grants to short-term CTE programs was accepted into a larger package of amendments that was closely negotiated between party leadership. The goal was to have them included into the larger manager’s amendment offered by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), by making a simple unanimous consent (UC) procedural request, then passing everything in the final bill. Unfortunately, the package that included the short-term Pell amendment was defeated when Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) objected to the UC request offered by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and the bill moved on to final passage without the amendment package.
Although the short-term Pell amendment, one of ACTE’s top priorities, was not ultimately included, there was another provision that was included in the bill related to dual enrollment. The provision would create a new grant program that would provide states with grants to expand STEM pathways for high school students into postsecondary education through expanding advanced coursework like dual enrollment and early college. The program is a re-write of the state grant component of the Fast Track to and Through College Act introduced by Senators Hassan (D-NH) and Young (R-IN), which ACTE publicly endorsed. The original bill has been changed by focusing the funding on expanding STEM pathways and removing the provisions around expanding Pell eligibility for high school students taking dual enrollment.
Next Steps
The House is expected to take up the proposal in late June or July and it is likely to be split into smaller pieces rather than as one package. Past that, it is unclear whether House leadership will write their own version of the legislation or take the more tradition route of trying to negotiate the differences between the chambers through a conference committee. As for the short-term Pell amendment, there is no indication as of now if the House plans on trying to include it in their version of the legislation, or if the Senate tries to revive it in conference or pursue another vehicle. Continue to check the CTE Policy Watch Blog for any updates related to the bill and for any advocacy requests in an effort to include short-term Pell in the final proposal.
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