Lawmakers Head Home for Summer Recess
On July 18, both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will begin a summer recess that lasts until September 6. During this time, Democrats and Republicans will each hold their respective national conventions.
Due to the shortened calendar, it is now clear the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act will not occur during the 114th Congress. In fact, Congress is only scheduled to be in session for a total of nine weeks through the end of 2016. During those nine weeks, lawmakers must consider a raft of spending bills, and other essential business which must be completed in order to keep the federal government funded and functioning.
In the meantime, the House of Representatives has approved a small package of bipartisan higher education-related bills that still need work before becoming final, but are a good indicator of some of the major themes the House wants to address when reauthorization actually happens. Those themes include transparency, consumer information, and better loan counseling.
However, although Congress may not be in session for seven weeks, there could be movement on several proposed or pending regulations:
- The Department of Education is expected to issue proposed regulations concerning the state authorization of distance education programs in the coming weeks; the Department had held a negotiating session on the topic in 2014, but the proposed rule was never published.
- It is possible the Department will introduce its final rule on teacher preparation, which has been stalled while dealing with the addendum on teacher preparation programs offered via distance.
- The Department is also expected to make their borrower defense regulations final before the end of the Obama Administration.
For more information, please contact:
Tim Powers