Congress Clears $1.9 Trillion Aid Bill, Sending It to Biden
Congress gave final approval on Wednesday to President Biden’s sweeping, nearly $1.9 trillion stimulus package, as Democrats acted over unified Republican opposition to push through an emergency pandemic aid plan that carries out a vast expansion of the country’s social safety net. By a vote of 220 to 211, the House sent the measure to Mr. Biden for his signature, cementing one of the largest injections of federal aid since the Great Depression. It would provide another round of direct payments for Americans, an extension of federal jobless benefits and billions of dollars to distribute coronavirus vaccines and provide relief for schools, states, tribal governments and small businesses struggling during the pandemic. ( The New York Times - Mar. 10, 2021)
| |
House Joins Senate in Approving $40B in Aid for Higher Education
The House on Wednesday sent President Biden a massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which includes an additional $40 billion in aid for the nation’s colleges and universities. The money for higher education, also passed by the Senate Saturday, would surpass the $14 billion colleges and universities received in last March’s CARES Act and the $22.7 billion they received in December’s $900 billion relief package. As in those previous relief bills, institutions would be required to spend at least half of the money on emergency grants to help students struggling to afford living expenses and the technology for remote classes they need during the pandemic. Left for the Education Department to decide is whether undocumented and international students will be eligible for relief this time. The money for institutions will be distributed largely along the same lines as in the previous packages. However, institutions with large endowments will not be penalized as they were in December’s relief package. Private higher education institutions subject to a 2017 endowment tax had their share of the package cut in half. ( Inside Higher Ed - Mar. 11, 2021)
| |
What’s in the Huge Pandemic Relief Bill for Science?
A massive $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill now on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk will deliver cash to a wide array of groups—including the scientific community. The Democratic-controlled Congress rejected pleas by higher education lobbyists for tens of billions of dollars for federal research agencies to help universities recoup the losses to their research programs. [But legislators did include some provisions to bolster pandemic-related research activities, including $600 million for the National Science Foundation, $150 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and $100 million for the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.] ( Science Magazine - Mar. 10, 2021)
| |
Congress Makes Student Debt Forgiveness Tax-free, Limits Revenue that For-profit Colleges Get from Enrolling Veterans
President Biden is slated to sign into law this week a $1.9 trillion stimulus package that clears one hurdle for broad student debt cancellation and tightens federal regulation of for-profit colleges. Congressional leaders seized an opportunity to accomplish some long-standing objectives through the latest pandemic relief bill, which passed the House on Wednesday. Chief among them is eliminating the tax burden many student loan borrowers would face if any portion of their debt was discharged. The tax relief is good only through January 2026, but lawmakers say it is a key step in canceling some of the $1.5 trillion in federal student loans held by 45 million Americans. ( The Washington Post - Mar. 10, 2021)
***See also, the following related news item:
- GI Bill Vets May Be Less Attractive to For-profit Schools under New Law - MilitaryTimes - Mar. 10, 2021
| |
AAU, Organizations Urge House Committee Leaders to Support TREAT Act
On Monday, AAU joined ACE and 51 other organizations on a letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee and Health Subcommittee leaders urging them quickly to advance H.R. 708/ S. 168, the ‘‘Temporary Reciprocity to Ensure Access to Treatment Act,” or TREAT Act. The bipartisan measure would temporarily extend license reciprocity for healthcare and mental health workers across the United States. According to the letter, the measure would address how the “patchwork of state and local licensing laws that restrict the provision of care across state lines remains a significant barrier to timely access to vital physical and behavioral health care,” causing confusion and delays in licensing and care. ( Association of American Universities - Mar. 10, 2021)
| |
President Biden’s Second Big Bill May Be China Package Pushed by Top Senate Democrat
[M]omentum is beginning to gather for what might become Congress’s second big piece of legislation in the Biden era: a bill aimed at countering China’s economic influence. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has been working on legislation that seeks to counter China’s rising global power . . . In February, Schumer said Democrats’ legislative package on China would aim to include measures to shore up U.S. supply chains, expand American production of semiconductors, create 5G networks nationwide and pour billions into investments into U.S. manufacturing companies and hubs, among other proposals. The new legislative package is likely to center on a bipartisan bill that Schumer introduced with Sen. Todd C. Young (R-Ind.) and other colleagues last year—the Endless Frontier Act. That bill proposes $10 billion to establish regional tech hubs that would aim to create new companies and boost manufacturing. The measure also proposes expanding the National Science Foundation into a renamed National Science and Technology Foundation, and giving it $100 billion over five years to invest in everything from university research to small manufacturing sites for the testing of new products. ( The Washington Post - Mar. 10, 2021)
| |
‘Dreamer,’ Farmworker Bills to Test Senate Waters on Immigration
Congress has tried for decades to enact comprehensive immigration legislation without success, so starting next week the House will try a different strategy: passing a pair of more modest bills. Democratic leaders hope that may help build momentum toward a larger overhaul effort pushed by the White House. The two bills are easily expected to pass the House and would help provide legal status for two groups of undocumented immigrants: those brought to the U.S. by their parents and migrant farmworkers. One bill would provide a path to citizenship to certain immigrants brought to the U.S. as children—currently protected by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA—and to immigrants with other temporary protections. ( Roll Call - Mar. 10, 2021)
| |
AFRI Coalition Requests at Least $600M for AFRI in FY22
The Agriculture Food and Research Initiative Coalition, which includes AAU, recently sent a letter to House and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee leaders requesting they provide at least $600 million for AFRI in FY22 appropriations. The letter notes that the funding is “much needed to invest in crucial areas aimed at addressing our nation’s most pressing food, agriculture, and public health challenges … including COVID-19 recovery, climate change adaptation and resiliency, racial equity in the food system for farmers and farmworkers, bioenergy, nutrition, agricultural technology, rural economic prosperity, and food safety.” ( Association of American Universities - Mar. 10, 2021)
| |
Follow the Office of Federal Relations on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube!
| |
|