Congressional Deal Would Give Higher Ed $23B A $900 billion coronavirus-relief package, passed by Congress late Monday night, gives colleges and universities another $23 billion in relief aid, which the head of the American Council on Education blasted as “wholly inadequate.” The COVID-19 relief to higher ed institutions represents only a sliver of the $120 billion associations representing colleges and universities had requested. It requires half of the funding to be spent on emergency aid to struggling students, much like the CARES Act funding approved in April. Part of the $82 billion in additional help for all of education, colleges and universities are getting a smaller slice than in the CARES Act. ( Inside Higher Ed - Dec. 22, 2020)
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FY 21 APPROPRIATIONS NEWS
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Trump Signs Massive Omnibus Spending, Coronavirus Relief PackagePresident Donald Trump on Sunday signed a massive government funding and pandemic aid package, despite earlier calling it a "disgrace" and demanding that lawmakers amend it. The outgoing president’s decision to sign the mega spending bill removes the threat of a partial government shutdown that would have started early Tuesday after a temporary spending law expired. In a statement, Trump said he was signing the measure because "it is my responsibility to protect the people of our country from the economic devastation and hardship" wrought by COVID-19. ( Roll Call - Dec. 27, 2020)
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Massive 2021 U.S. Spending Bill Leaves Research Advocates Hoping for MoreThe massive $1.4 trillion spending bill that the U.S. Congress finally agreed upon this week should once again reverse the deep cuts the President Donald Trump had proposed for most science agencies, although the outgoing politician has threatened not to sign the bill. The final budget package includes increases of 3% for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2.5% for the National Science Foundation (NSF), 2.3% for NASA science, and 0.4% for the Department of Energy (DOE’s) science office. Those numbers (see details below) put the cherry on top of 4 years of robust growth under Trump despite his persistent attempts to eviscerate federal science budgets. For 2021, lawmakers carved out increases for science despite giving themselves almost no additional money, compared with this year, to spend on all civilian programs. That generosity reflects a bipartisan consensus on the value of academic research. Yet many research advocates are greeting the 2021 numbers with a collective shrug. ( Science Magazine - Dec. 22, 2020)
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Biden's Choice for Education SecretaryPresident-elect Joe Biden has selected Connecticut education commissioner Miguel Cardona as his education secretary. "Dr. Cardona has a proven track record as an innovative leader who will fight for all students, and for a better, fairer, more successful education system," Biden said in a pre-Christmas announcement. Biden also the same day repeated on Twitter his past commitment to free college. Cardona, in accepting the nomination, spoke of his commitment to public education. Washington higher education advocates say they know little about Cardona’s higher education stances. Robert Shireman, deputy under secretary of education during the Obama administration, said Cardona will need strong advisers on higher education issues. ( Inside Higher Ed - Jan. 4, 2021)
***See also, the following related news item:
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Big Changes in the Federal Student-aid System Are Coming. Here’s Why They Matter.Though the pandemic nixed the possibility of attaining the long-delayed reauthorization of the Higher Education Act this year, legislators nonetheless inserted several significant changes in the FAFSA, federal-aid methodology, and the Pell Grant program into the Consolidated Appropriations Act, the vast spending bill, which Congress approved on Monday. The bill’s student-aid provisions will take effect in the 2023-24 aid cycle. That means the changes will be reflected on the FAFSA that will become available on October 1, 2022 (though some provisions could take effect sooner). On Tuesday, [Carrie Warick, director of policy and advocacy for the National College Attainment Network,] walked The Chronicle through some of the key changes — and how they would help students and families. Here’s a quick look at the essentials. ( The Chronicle of Higher Education - Dec. 22, 2020)
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Congress Clinches Deal to Restore Pell Grants for Prisoners 26 Years After BanCongressional leaders have struck a deal to reinstate Pell grants for incarcerated students more than a quarter century after banning the aid for prison education programs, top Democrats and Republicans announced on Sunday. The legislation, which is expected to be included as part of the year-end spending deal, would lift the prohibition Congress imposed in the 1994 crime bill that then-President Bill Clinton signed and Joe Biden championed as a senator. It is part of a sweeping package of higher education policies that the leaders of the House and Senate education committees negotiated over the last several weeks. ( Politico - Dec. 20, 2020)
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Report Finds Holes in U.S. Policies on Foreign Influence in ResearchA new report by a congressional watchdog says U.S. agencies need to flesh out and clarify their policies for monitoring the foreign ties of the researchers they fund. The report, by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), is likely to spur efforts in Congress aimed at preventing China and other nations from using funding and other connections to gain improper access to research funded by the U.S. government. But at least one of the agencies under scrutiny — the National Science Foundation (NSF) — is pushing back on the idea that its policies are lax. It is warning that tougher rules could hinder its ability to fund the best science. [The GAO report] examines the practices of the government’s five biggest funders of academic research: the National Institutes of Health (NIH), NSF, NASA, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of Defense (DOD). ( Science Magazine - Dec. 28, 2020)
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Senate Hands Trump His First Veto OverrideThe Senate on Friday overrode President Donald Trump's veto of a $741 billion defense policy bill, delivering a rare bipartisan rebuke to the commander in chief in his administration's waning days. Senators voted 81 to 13 to enact the annual National Defense Authorization Act, well above the two-thirds majority needed to overturn the presidential veto. The House voted to override Trump by a wide margin on Monday. The override is the first of Trump's term, handing the outgoing president a stinging loss in his showdown with Congress. Lawmakers in both parties banded together to defy the White House despite Republicans' wariness of crossing Trump throughout his term — and with many even supporting his efforts to contest the outcome of the election he lost. ( Politico - Jan. 1, 2021)
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White House Appears to Conclude Review of EPA 'Secret Science' RuleThe White House appears to have concluded its review of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that’s expected to limit the types of scientific research the agency can consider in its rulemaking process. The rule, which the agency has billed as a transparency measure, is expected to limit the EPA’s ability to consider studies that don’t make their underlying data public. Critics argue that this could cause the agency to exclude important research like landmark public health studies that can’t release participants’ information. EPA spokesperson James Hewitt, however, declined to say whether the rule had been finalized and signed by Administrator Andrew Wheeler, saying “we have nothing to announce at this time” in an email to The Hill.
( The Hill - Dec. 31, 2020)
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Trump Administration Extends Ban on H-1B and Other Work Visas, Green CardsThe White House extended a ban on immigrants coming to the U.S. on work-based visas and green cards through the end of March, setting up another immigration policy decision for the incoming Biden administration to grapple with. The ban, which had been set to expire Thursday, applies to immigrants coming to the U.S. on H-1B and several other employment-based visas, along with people coming on green cards to work or reunite with family. In October, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce . . . won a partial injunction on the visa ban in court, allowing its member companies to resume bringing over foreign employees. It isn’t known how the ban extension will affect the court’s order. President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team has declined to answer questions about how he would handle the ban. ( The Wall Street Journal - Dec. 31, 2020)
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