During the past year, the JOBS Act – a bipartisan bill to expand the Pell grant to cover high-quality, shorter-term workforce training programs – expanded its coalition of congressional supporters, inching closer toward potentially becoming law. The bill now has a striking 52 bipartisan co-sponsors in the Senate, and in February, language similar to the JOBS Act passed the House via an amendment in the America COMPETES Act. While this progress is encouraging, the bill faces new challenges in the 118th Congress.
The current JOBS Act has a lead Democrat and Republican co-sponsor in both the House and Senate; however, three of these four Members of Congress will not be returning next year. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) have both announced their retirements, while Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) lost re-election after redistricting put him into a tough primary battle with Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). Heading into the 118th Congress, the remaining co-sponsor, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), must seek out new champions to take their places while maintaining the bipartisan coalition that has been built over the past several years.
The JOBS Act has also attracted a competing bill to expand Pell grants to short-term programs. The REAL Reforms Act, a Higher Education Act reform proposal introduced this year by Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY), would also expand the Pell grant to short-term programs, including for-profit institutions. While ACTE does not oppose this bill, it is a partisan bill that does not currently contain the broad coalition that the JOBS Act has built over nearly a decade of negotiations.
As we approach the 118th Congress, it is critical that your voices be heard in support of short-term Pell expansion – your advocacy is especially critical if you have newly elected representatives, or Members of Congress who are not currently co-sponsors of the JOBS Act (you can find Senate co-sponsors here and House co-sponsors here). The JOBS Act remains the most viable, bipartisan legislation related to short-term Pell grants that has the support to potentially become law in the next Congress. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Zach Curtis ([email protected]).
Comments