Important Bipartisan VA Education Legislation Enacted by Congress On Its Way To Biden for His Signature
Congress Nears Deal To Fund Government Through March 2025 With WIOA Reauthorization & Clarification on Final Rules Packages At OMB/OIRA
Overview
Heading into quite literally the final days of the 118th Congress, two key pieces of legislation are set to become law and the Biden-Harris Administration still could promulgate Final Rules on portions of the 2023-2024 Federal Negotiated Rulemaking.
Here are individual updates, starting with clarification on the three pending Final Rules packages first because we want to make sure the community fully understands where things are in the regulatory process heading into the final weeks of the Biden-Harris Administration.
2023-2024 Final Rules
“Lucy, you got some splainin to do!” Last week, CSPEN shared updates both in emails and our weekly CSPEN Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar regarding the status of three separate regulatory packages that are all currently over with White House’s Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs (OMB/OIRA) awaiting final review by the Administration. In our reporting, we stated that all three packages were newly submitted to OMB/OIRA. This was incorrect.
The two bills on Student Debt Relief were actually sent over to the White House OMB/OIRA prior to last week, and it was only the third package on Program Integrity and Institutional Quality that were sent from the Department of Education over to OMB/OIRA for final review and approval last week. This mistake was pointed out to last week in reporting by Phil Hill on EdTech+ last Friday and immediately resulted in outreach to the Department of Education seeking additional clarification from them.
What had confused us were the Status Reports on the regulatory proposal for the Student Debt Relief 2 (Hardship) along with the fact that we hadn’t seen the regulations posted previously? We were informed directly by senior Department Officials that the two Student Debt Relief proposals had been submitted to the White House earlier and that it was only the Program Integrity and Institutional Quality: Distance Education [1840-AD92], Return to Title IV, HEA Funds [1840-AD85], and Federal TRIO Programs [184-AD68] that were added last week.
Long story short, we were inaccurate in reporting the timing or receipt of the proposals to OMB/OIRA for final review, but accurate in sharing with the community that the reports are all pending final review – including the Hardship proposal that gives the Secretary the authority to make decisions on student loan debt relief for reasons up to and including the program and institution she/he crosses to attend and the proposals which focuses on key Distance Education revisions, R2T4 calculation revisions, and increased access for students under the TRIO program.
Are primary goal in sharing the information remains sharing with the community the importance of institutions who have comments, recommendation, and/or concerns with any of the three packages based upon their prior review of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking have one final opportunity to request a listening session with representatives from the Department and White House under Executive Order 12866.
We encourage interested parties to take advantage of this process as necessary on any of the three regulatory packages as all are open for meeting requests, but may be concluding soon. We say “may” because both of the Student Debt Relief proposals have been challenged in the courts – which may prevent the Administration from moving forward until further court action. The Program Integrity and Institutional Quality proposals are not the subject of any litigation at this time, and therefore unencumbered by other actions. This means that following the scheduling and completion of any E.O. 12866 meetings, final White House submission of their recommendation back to the Department, and Department final decision-making, the regulations could be submitted to the Federal Register for public notice as Final Rules.
We also hope that this helps to clarify the status of the regulations, which still could become Final Rules. Time is running out, but it is still possible/
The Elizabeth Dole Act
On Monday, the House of Representatives passed S.141 – Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, a bipartisan, bicameral bill seeking to provide benefits to our nation’s veterans and their families in a multitude of ways – including favorable changes in education and the assessment of the outcomes of institutions of higher education at the programmatic level.
A section-by-section of the Dole Act can be reviewed here (veterans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/section_by_section_dole_act.pdf) .
The Continuing Resolution & the A Stronger Workforce for America Act
Last night Congress released a bill, called a Continuing Resolution (CR), which provides continued funding for our nation’s government to avoid a shutdown and disaster relief assistance for North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, and Western Region. If enacted this week, the hard fought deal will keep the Federal Government operating at the Fiscal Year 2024 (10/23-9/24) funding levels through March 2025 – leaving the decisions on current Fiscal Year 2025 allocations to the new 119th Congress.
Included within the over 1,500-page bill are a number of “riders” – provisions which are not directly related to the government funding, but policy proposals attached to must past legislation like the CR. Contained within these riders is a very important policy to our nation’s workforce and the institutions who provided education for in-demand jobs. The bi-partisan A Stronger Workforce for America Act – a comprehensive bill reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
In a press release made public yesterday, House Education & the Workforce Committee leaders Dr. Virgina Foxx and Robert “Bobby” Scott both lauded the inclusion of the bill in the CR, providing a summary and access to a “Fact Sheet (edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/12.17.2024_wioa_reauth_fact_sheet_1.pdf) .”
What’s Next
CSPEN will not be hosting any more webinars the remainder of this year, but we will continue to send you email updates on the conclusion of the 118th Congress, President Biden’s decision on signing both The Elizabeth Dole Act and the CR, and any change in status on the regulatory packages current with the White House’s offices.