Experts See Promise in China Competition Bills, but Want to See the Money TooThis summer, both the Senate and House voted on a bipartisan basis to pass legislation designed to bring the United States up to speed with Beijing in scientific research and development, especially in advanced technological fields such as artificial intelligence. In philosophy, policy and the federal dollar amount that would be authorized for spending, each chamber’s approach differs from its counterpart’s. As China advances, researchers in the U.S. cannot begin to catch up until lawmakers hammer out those differences and a unified bill is signed into law by President Joe Biden, who has urged Congress forward. But the path forward remains murky, complicated by a packed legislative calendar. And even if the bills are signed into law, a major hurdle remains. ( Roll Call - July 20, 2021)
| |
White House Selects Former Fed as NIST Leader
President Joe Biden nominated biomedical researcher and Maryland-based professor Laurie E. Locascio to steer the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Locascio was named as Biden’s pick to serve as the Commerce Department’s next Undersecretary for Standards and Technology, among a slew of other nominations Friday. She’s currently the vice president for research at the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore—schools that collectively garner $1.1 billion yearly in external research funding. She’s also published more than 100 scientific papers and 11 patents. The position requires Senate confirmation. ( Nextgov - July 19, 2021)
| |
Indictment in Alleged Hacking Conspiracy
The Department of Justice on Monday announced the indictment of four individuals, including three Chinese Ministry of State Security intelligence officers, accused of involvement in a hacking operation that targeted foreign universities, government organizations and companies to steal information, including proprietary research and trade secrets. The indictment alleges that the Hainan Province Ministry of State Security —a provincial foreign intelligence arm of China’s Ministry of State Security —created a front company that employed hackers who stole data from foreign companies and universities involved in maritime research and development and virus and vaccine research. Alleged targets for hacking attempts spanned at least 12 countries and included universities or research institutes in California, Florida, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington State, as well as the National Institutes of Health. ( Inside Higher Ed - July 21, 2021)
| |
Department of Education Releases Q&A on Title IX GuidanceThe Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education released a question-and-answer document Tuesday to provide institutions with resources to comply with the changes made to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 in 2020. The Q&A and its appendix —released as the department continues its comprehensive review of the regulations, which remain in effect —address some of the questions OCR has received from institutions and stakeholders, including during the five days of public hearings it held on Title IX in June. The department also released a full transcript of those hearings Tuesday. Among the information provided in the Q&A is how an institution should determine whether to investigate off-campus conduct, the types of allowable evidence for a decision maker to use if a party or witness doesn't submit to cross-examination and the appropriate length of time that an institution should take to investigate a complaint. ( Inside Higher Ed - July 21, 2021)
| |
Advising the Biden Administration
California Community Colleges chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley will take a temporary position as a special adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, according to an announcement from system leaders Monday. Oakley will begin his role at the Biden administration on July 26 and will return as chancellor in late fall. Deputy Chancellor Daisy Gonzales will serve as acting chancellor in his absence. Oakley became chancellor of the California Community Colleges, which enroll 2.1 million students across 116 campuses, in 2016. He said he plans to help push forward President Biden's "very aggressive and comprehensive agenda" for higher education policy, including the administration's efforts to make two years of community college tuition-free nationwide, increase the federal Pell Grant, put funding toward increasing student persistence and graduation rates, and support colleges and universities that serve low-income students, students of color and first-generation students. ( Inside Higher Ed - July 20, 2021)
| |
GI Bill Reforms on Track for Fall Semester, VA Officials Say
Veterans Affairs officials expect to have 27 congressionally mandated reforms to GI Bill benefits in place by Aug. 1, but many of those changes may not be immediately visible to all students. That’s because the bulk of the changes, included in the Johnny Isakson and Phil Roe Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020, deal with specific programs and eligibility requirements that individually don’t affect a large number of veterans. When combined, however, these small changes amount to significant updates across the breadth of the benefit. Several provisions have been in place since the start of the summer, including the extension of protections for beneficiaries attending colleges whose schedules were upended by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Students forced out of classes due to changes to class meetings or availability can retain their GI Bill eligibility under the measure, on-campus jobs and apprenticeship stipends were extended through the end of the pandemic, and payouts for hybrid classes will be adjusted under language approved last fall. ( MilitaryTimes - July 20, 2021)
| |
Bill Would Require Federal Agencies and Contractors to Report Cyber Intrusions Within 24 Hours
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., has introduced legislation that would shield companies from liability associated with cybersecurity intrusions they experience in exchange for reports of such incidents that could be used to track perpetrators and mitigate the harm from major breaches across U.S. critical infrastructure. It would give freshly minted Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly 240 days from its enactment to establish a secure way for covered—and non-covered—entities to report cyber intrusions to CISA within 24 hours of their recognition. The bill refers to this as Cyber Intrusion Reporting Capabilities. The capabilities should enable the receipt of classified reports, the bill says, and the information submitted would be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. Additionally, Congress would be the only entity able to subpoena the information and lawmakers would only be able to use it for oversight purposes. ( Nextgov - July 21, 2021)
| |
FY 22 APPROPRIATIONS NEWS
| |
Earmarks Are BackThe House Appropriations Committee has approved more than $272 million in funding through earmarks that would go to projects at 228 colleges and universities, according to an analysis conducted by Inside Higher Ed. The earmarks span seven of the 12 bills the Appropriations Committee has introduced to fund federal departments and agencies for fiscal year 2022 (the other five bills either don't have earmarks at all or have none related to higher education). Nearly $186 million of the earmark funding is a part of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies bill, which was approved by the committee last week and lays out Congress’s initial appropriations for higher education. ( Inside Higher Ed - July 21, 2021)
| |
Follow the Office of Federal Relations on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube!
| |
|