Last week in Washington, the House was out of session, while the Senate remained in town to conduct Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Both chambers will return this week. There is expected to be action on the America COMPETES Act, which contains legislative language similar to the College Transparency Act (CTA) and the JOBS Act, two of ACTE’s top legislative priorities. Stay tuned to the CTE Policy Watch blog for potential advocacy opportunities in the coming days! You can read more about the America COMPETES Act and its implications for CTE below. ACTE is also awaiting the release of President Biden’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget, which is expected to be released on March 28. ACTE will continue to work with its partners on Capitol Hill and within the Biden Administration to advocate for more robust federal investments in CTE, so stay tuned for more updates over the coming weeks! As we await more congressional action, here are a few key notes from the week:
- Senate Votes to Proceed on America COMPETES Act/USICA: The Senate is set to vote on Monday on a motion to proceed on the House-passed America COMPETES Act, also known as the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) in the Senate’s version of the legislation. The bill is aimed to support economic competitiveness with China, U.S. supply chains and semiconductor manufacturing. In addition to ACTE Public Policy’s advocacy work on the bill, National Skills Coalition is circulating a letter to national, state and local organizations in support of the amendment introduced by Reps. Andy Levin (D-MI) and Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) containing the CTA and JOBS Act language. If your organization would like to sign-on, please contact us. Read more about the America COMPETES Act/USICA here.
- FCC Opens Third Filing Window for Emergency Connectivity Fund: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it will open a third application filing window for the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) program to award at least $1 billion in remaining ECF support and address outstanding demand for devices and broadband connections. The third application filing window will open on Thursday, April 28, 2022, and close on Friday, May 13, 2022. During this filing window, applicants will be able to submit ECF requests for funding to purchase eligible equipment and up to 12 months of service between July 1, 2022, and December 31, 2023, for students, school staff and library patrons with unmet needs.
- Department of Labor Announces Funding to Support Employment Readiness for American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians: The Department of Labor has announced $71 million in funding to provide training and employment assistance to American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. The grants will support services to equip individuals in these communities with education, job search assistance and occupational skills training to improve their access to better jobs and increased wages. The grants will be administered by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Indian and Native American programs. Learn more about the grant and apply here.
- Department of Education and NASA Host Conversation on Title IX and STEM: On March 24, the Department of Education and NASA held a conversation on elevating the role of Title IX in involving girls and women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. Watch the recording of the event here.
Comments