After Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was finally elected Speaker of the House early Saturday morning, the new Republican majority in the House turned to other organizing activities necessary for the 118th Congress. First, Republicans approved a rules package that will govern the House of Representatives this Congress. These rules included the concessions that Speaker McCarthy made in order to receive enough votes from conservative Republicans. The rules package, which passed along party lines, makes many significant changes to House procedure, including:
- A single Member can now call a “motion to vacate,” which calls a vote to oust the Speaker of the House.
- All bills must be limited to a single subject with tight restrictions on overriding this requirement, which could make it harder to combine bills or attach smaller bills to larger legislation.
Agreements made by Republicans outside the rules package could threaten education funding, including the Perkins Basic State Grant, in fiscal year (FY) 2024. Speaker McCarthy promised to write FY 2024 appropriations bills at no more than the overall FY 2022 funding level, with most negotiators noting that these cuts will come from non-defense spending rather than defense discretionary funding. If this does occur, this would mean a total of $130 billion, or 8%, would be cut from the federal budget, endangering all education and workforce programs.
In addition, Republican leaders have also moved forward on selecting committee leaders for the 118th Congress. On January 9, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) was selected by the Republican Steering Committee to lead the now-renamed House Education and Workforce Committee. Foxx, who has served both as ranking member and chair of the committee, was selected over Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), who also formally ran for the position.
Rep. Foxx says that she will heavily focus on oversight over President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan and China’s influence on college campuses. Foxx will also continue her work on reforming the student loan system, as proposed in the REAL Reforms Act which was introduced last year. Further, she has vowed to advance legislation that would require public disclosure of school curricula, budgets and spending, mandate parental access to teachers and school boards, regulate issues pertaining to transgender students and counteract teachers’ unions.
The Republican Steering Committee also selected Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) to become chairman of the House Small Business Committee, which significantly focused on CTE in the 117th Congress. Williams has worked on CTE legislation during his career, including advancing the Supporting Small Business and Career and Technical Education Act, which passed the House last year. ACTE publicly endorsed this bill.
For any questions regarding legislation in the 118th Congress or suggestions for federal policy solutions to CTE issues, please contact ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Zach Curtis ([email protected]).
Comments