This week was another quiet one for CTE-related items. Congress focused on passing a “minibus” of six appropriations bills, holding January 6th Committee hearings, negotiating a budget reconciliation package with key members of Congress and negotiating on the CHIPS Act, a package that contains funding for semiconductor manufacturing and investments, as well as some elements of the USICA/America COMPETES Act. The scaled-down bill may get a vote as soon as the week of July 25. However, language similar to the JOBS Act was not included in the draft text of the bill that was released on July 20. We are working to elevate the issue to Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), one of the lead negotiators on the bill. ACTE is also monitoring the expected release of the Senate Appropriations Committee's FY 2023 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill. As we await more details, here are some news and notes from Washington:
- ACTION ALERT: Ask Members of Congress to Include JOBS Act Language in the CHIPS Act: We need your help in putting pressure on your Members of Congress to include the JOBS Act language in the text of the CHIPS Act! If you reside in Arizona, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Washington or California, your Members of Congress are in a key position to impact negotiations, making it crucial that CTE advocates in these states weigh in now as the negotiations quickly shift in a new direction. ACTION NEEDED: Contact your policymakers in the House and Senate to ask them to support the extension of Pell Grant eligibility to high-quality, short-term CTE programs as they negotiate the CHIPS Act.
- Departments of Labor and Commerce Announce Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Sprint: Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the 120-Day Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Sprint, an effort to train a skilled cybersecurity workforce through registered apprenticeships, support numerous industries’ use of Registered Apprenticeships to develop and train a skilled and diverse cybersecurity workforce. The initiative seeks to recruit employers, industry associations, labor unions, educational providers, community-based organizations and others. Read more about the initiative here.
- FY23 Appropriations Update: On July 20, the House passed a “minibus” package of six FY2023 appropriations bills, but the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill was not included. The House may bring the remainder of the bills to the floor as soon as this week, or they may wait until after the August congressional recess to do so. The Senate Appropriations Committee also plans to release its draft FY2023 bills during the week of July 25 without holding markups. ACTE will continue to monitor the appropriations process and will provide updates as they come.
- House Bill to Establish Agriculture Workforce Training Program Introduced: On July 19, Reps. Tom Emmer (R-MN), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME) introduced a bill to establish a grant program for eligible institutions to carry out agriculture workforce training programs. You can read the full text of the legislation here.
- Bill to Expand Cybersecurity Workforce Placed on Senate Calendar: S. 2274, the Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Expansion Act, has been reported by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and placed on the Senate legislative calendar for floor consideration. The bill was co-introduced by Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), and would establish a federal government cybersecurity apprenticeship program and a pilot program on cybersecurity training for military veterans transitioning from the military. You can read the full text of the legislation here.
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