Government Relations

Legislative Action Center

Use NACAC's Legislative Action Center to contact your members of Congress on NACAC member priority issues, or write your own message on any topic. Also use the Action Center to read about recent state and federal legislation, find contact information for your lawmakers, and much more!

State Legislative Portal

The new State Legislative Portal highlights current legislation in your state according to issue area. Check to find out what is going on in your state regarding college admission counseling.

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Capitol Outlook

Latest News

Check back here for daily updates on federal issues while Congress is in session. Visit the archives for news from previous months. Sign up for NACAC's government relations elist for weekly state news.  

July 17: House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) recently announced he will schedule markups for selected FY09 appropriations bills, but neglected to specify which ones. Chairman Obey recently adjourned a Labor/HHS/Education full committee markup due to non-germane amendments.

July 16: The Department of Education is seeking comment on a High School Completion Validation Study. Comments are due August 14. Visit the Federal Register online for more information.

July 15: The Department of Education is seeking comment on a survey of Pell Grant recipients who have transferred to another eligible institution. Comments are due September 15. Visit the Federal Register online for more details.

July 14: The National Assessment Governing Board will be meeting July 31 to August 2. Visit the Federal Register online for more information on which portions of the meeting will be public.

July 11: The Department of Veterans' Affairs has launched a new web page detailing the contents of the new GI Bill signed into law on July 1, including new and extensive education benefits for veterans.

July 10: Despite President Bush's usual veto threats, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has announced he intends to complete all twelve FY09 appropriations bills at the committee level, and that the full Senate may complete two of them (military construction and defense authorization), before Congress's target adjournment date of September 26.

July 9: The Senate Appropriations Committee has released its committee report for FY09 education, labor, and health appropriations. The committee has provided a $69 increase in the maximum Pell Grant, bringing the FY09 total to $4,800; a $4 million increase for ESSCP; a $10 million increase for TRIO and a $5 million increase for GEAR UP. The committee provided level-funding for SEOG, LEAP and Work Study, which were eliminated or cut in the President's FY09 budget request. The House Appropriations Committee has not completed work on its FY09 education funding bill.

July 8: The Department of Education has released terms and conditions for the purchasing of loans by the Department under the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (PL 110-227).

July 2: The 110th Congress has adjourned for its Fourth of July recess, and will reconvene on July 8.

July 1: The Department of Education has released a list of eligible majors for National SMART Grant recipients for the 2008-2009 award year.

June 30: The Department of Education has released a summary for educators on the steps the Department has taken to ensure continued access to student loans.

June 27: The Department of Education has announced the FY2008 Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program (ESSCP) awards.

June 26: The House full committee markup of the education appropriations bill came to a halt today, when ranking member Jerry Lewis (R-CA) introduced an amendment to strip the content of the bill and replace it with the spending bill for the Department of the Interior, as a possible vehicle for efforts to expand US oil supplies. Chairman David Obey (D-WI) said such political stunts are why "Americans hate Washington."

June 25: The GAO released a report on education benefits for veterans, for the House Committee on Veterans' Affaris.

June 24: The Senate appropriations subcommittee on education will meet today on FY09 funding. The House subcommittee met last week, and provided a $169 increase in the maximum Pell grant for FY09. Both full committees will meet on Thursday.

June 23: The Department of State has released its final rule regarding a new category of exchange visitor: college or university student interns. Visit the Federal Register online for details on the new regulations.

June 19: Read highlights of GAO testimony regarding the drop in international students interested in studying in the US.

June 18: The FY08 supplemental appropriations bill is finally complete, including significant increases in education benefits for veterans. President Bush plans to sign the package into law, despite the overall package exceeding his recommendations for war-related spending.

June 17: The Department of Education is seeking comment on the Upward Bound annual performance report. Visit the Federal Register online for more information. Deadline for comment is July 16.

June 16: The Senate will once again attempt to begin general debate on HR 6049, a large and complex tax bill that extends a number of popular deductions, including one for college tuition. A cloture motion failed last week 50-44 (cloture requires 60 votes and must pass before general debate is permitted); today's attempt will the second for Senate leadership on this tax package.

June 13: The House Appropriations Committee released their 302(b) numbers today, providing $153.1 billion for the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health & Human Services. This represents an $8 billion increase over the President's request for those three departments. Committee staff estimate that between five and six billion of that amount will be available for the Department of Education, and that the Pell Grant program alone will utilize $2 billion. The next step is subcommittee action, which is scheduled for next week.

June 12: The Department of Education will host a live webinar on June 17 on recent changes to Title IV student financial aid. Visit IFAP online for more information.

June 11: The National Governors' Association (NGA) has submitted comments to the Department of Education on proposed regulations for No Child Left Behind.

June 10: Congresswoman Linda Sanchez (D-CA) has authored a "Dear Colleague" letter to Congressional leadership, urging that the provisions of the DREAM Act be included in any immigration package addressed by Congress this year. The letter was co-signed by 43 members of Congress. Read about NACAC's history with the DREAM Act.

June 9: Now that the budget resolution is complete, the appropriations process is underway. The House Labor/HHS/Education appropriations subcommittee will meet on June 19, and the Senate subcommittee will meet June 24. Use NACAC's Legislative Action Center to contact members of the subcommittees and urge them to provide adequate funding for need-based student aid, school counseling, and early college awareness programs. Read NACAC's letter to the subcommitees.

June 5: The FY09 budget resolution conference report passed the Senate yesterday by a vote of 48 to 45, and passed the House today by a vote of 214 to 210. Appropriations committees in both chambers will now meet to determine 302(b) allocations, which the subcommittees will use to determine funding levels for individual education programs.

June 4: Your Voice Your Vote provides resources to help college and university campuses organize voter registration and voter education efforts. Your Voice Your Vote and the National Campus Voter Registration Project are endorsed by the Washington Higher Education Secretariat, of which NACAC is a member.

June 3: The Department of State's Overseas Schools Advisory Council will hold its annual meeting on June 25 in Washington, DC. Visit the Federal Register online for more information.

June 2: The FY09 budget resolution is scheduled for floor debate in the House on Thursday, June 5. The resolution includes $84.4 billion for function 500 (the budget area funding education and training programs), which is $8.4 billion more than the President requested.

May 27: Congress has adjourned for its Memorial Day recess, and will reconvene on June 3. The FY08 supplemental spending package passed the Senate last week, including education benefits for veterans, without offsets. Senate leaders argue that additional benefits for veterans are part of war costs, and are thus exempted from pay-as-you-go rules.

May 22: The Senate will take up the FY08 supplemental spending package today, in a series of votes needing 60 'ayes' to pass. The package includes education benefits for veterans, also included in the House version.

May 21: Read Secretary Spellings' letter to FFELP lenders regarding ensuring continued access to student loans.

May 20: The Department of Education is seeking comment on the FAFSA. Visit the Federal Register online for details. Comments are due June 18.

May 19: Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Congressman George Miller (D-CA), chairmen of the education committees, called upon the GAO to monitor the administration's efforts to maintain access to student loans.

May 16: The House approved its FY08 supplemental today. An unusual procedure split the package into three amendments to HR 2642. The first amendment, which contained spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, failed 141 to 149, with 132 Republicans voting "present" to protest the lack of committee markup of the supplemental. The second amendment, containing war-related policy statements, passed 227 to 196. The third amendment, containing domestic spending including education benefits for veterans, passed 256 to 166. The Senate is expected to reattach the war spending to their version.

May 15: Read a summary of the House FY08 supplemental, which will reach the floor of the House this week, bypassing committee markup. The package includes education benefits for veterans, which will be offset by a 0.5% tax on individuals with income over $500,000 or couples with income over $1 million.

May 14: House and Senate budget leaders have finally reached a compromise on the FY09 budget resolution, and plan to convene a conference committee early next week. Both chambers passed their versions in mid-March, but disagreements over reconciliation instructions have until now hindered progress. If conference negotiations go well, this will be the first election year since 2000 in which a budget resolution was passed.

May 13: Applications for the College Access Challenge Grants (CACG) are now available from the Department of Education. NACAC's state and regional affiliates are eligible for subgrants under this program, but first the state must apply. Use NACAC's Legislative Action Center to urge your Governor to apply for CACG. The application deadline is June 27.

May 12: The FY08 supplemental spending bill may come to the floor of the House as early as Tuesday of this week. House leadership decided to bypass the committee level, and bring the package directly to the floor. In the Senate, however, the supplemental will first be marked up by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The markup scheduled for May 8 has been rescheduled for May 15. Both packages include some provisions regarding education benefits for veterans.

May 9: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today clarified that federal law does not prohibit colleges and universities from admitting undocumented students. North Carolina's attorney general's office had advised the state's community colleges against admitting undocumented students earlier this week. The governor responded by saying such admission was permissable, thus creating the confusion.

May 8: The Senate Appropriations Committee will markup the FY08 supplemental spending package today, which will include education benefits for veterans from S 22, sponsored by Senator Jim Webb (D-VA). House leadership is planning to bypass the committee and bring its version of the supplemental directly to the floor. It is unclear exactly what the House version will include. President Bush has threatened to veto any supplemental that includes non-defense spending or that exceeds his requested dollar amount.

May 7: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released its annual report to Congress on scholarship scams, prepared in concert with the Department of Justice and the Department of Education.

May 6: The Department of Education is seeking comment on revisions to IPEDS, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. Comments are due June 5. Visit the Federal Register online for details.

May 5: Check out a podcast from the Department of Education on College Access Challenge Grants.

May 2: Read highlights of the GAO's testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday. The GAO report concludes that the complexity of the student aid and education tax incentive system prevents taxpayers from making the best possible choices regarding these options.

May 1: Yesterday, the Senate unanimously approved HR 5715, the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, with an amendment (SA 4592) to expand eligibility to Academic Competitiveness Grants (ACG). The amendment would make an additional 100,000 students eligible for up to $4,000 more annually in grant aid. ACG are awarded to Pell-eligible students who complete a rigorous course of study in high school. The House is expected to approve the Senate-amended version today.

April 30: The current Higher Education Act (HEA) extension expires today. Congress has renewed the extension until May 31, when lawmakers hope to finally complete conference negotiations. The House passed their version (HR 4137) in February, and the Senate passed theirs (S 1642) last July.

April 29: A subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on May 1 regarding higher education tax benefits, like Coverdell savings accounts and 529 plans. Subcommittee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) said the hearing is to make sure benefits are being utilized by taxpayers, and to determine if the system can be simplified.

April 28: The House Committee on Education & Labor will hold a hearing on April 30 on HR 3021, a bill to provide funds to local education agencies for school construction.

April 25: Conference negotiations on the FY09 budget resolution continues. Although the resolution is non-binding, it does provide appropriators with a lump sum from which spending levels for each federal department are determined. Negotiators are considering reconciliation instructions that appear in the House version but not in the Senate version. If an agreement is not reached by May 15, budget rules allow Appropriations Committees to begin their work on FY09 spending bills without a budget resolution.

April 24: The Bush Administration sent a letter to Congressional leaders this week, clarifying that the Federal Financing Bank does not have the authority to bailout student loan companies. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, expressed regret that the administration was unwilling to act. Instead, the letter expressed support for HR 5715, which would give the Secretary of Education the authority to purchase FFELP loans at cost from cash-strapped lenders. Read the administration's complete position on HR 5715 in the Statement of Administration Policy (SAP).

April 23:  The Department of Education has released draft regulations for Title I of No Child Left Behind (the Elementary and Secondary Education Act). Title I deals with programs to assit low-income schools. Comments on the proposed regulations are due June 23.

April 22: The Department of Education is inviting applications for new FY08 awards for the TRIO Training Program. Grants are awarded to train staff and leadership employed in or preparing to be employed in TRIO programs. Visit the Federal Register online for more information.

April 21: The Department of Education will soon be surveying colleges about their continued ability to access FFELP loans, given the anticipated credit crisis. The survey is currently in clearance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Visit the Federal Register online for more information.

April 18: The House of Representatives passed the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (HR 5717) yesterday, by a vote of 383 to 27. See how your Representative voted. Read a summary of HR 5717, including links to position statments from some of NACAC's coalition partners.

April 17:  The Department of Education has instructed guaranty agencies to submit their updated Lender-of-Last-Resort (LLR) rules and operating procedures to the Department for review and approval. Read more from IFAP online.

April 16: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the non-partisan budget arm of the legislative branch, has released its analysis of HR 5715, the Continued Access to Student Loans Act.

April 15: The latest extension of the Higher Education Act (HEA) will expire on April 30. While conferees have not yet been named, informal conference negotiations are ongoing, and lawmakers hope to have the compromise HEA complete by April 30, although others fear negotiations will extend into May. Among the differences between the House and Senate versions are private loan protections for students, provisions to control the price of textbooks, and "maintenance of effort" requirements regarding college costs.

April 14: The Department of Education is seeking comment on the Financial Status and Final Report for GEAR UP. Comments are due May 15. Visit the Federal Register online for more details.

April 11: The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on education, health, and labor will hold a hearing on FY09 funding on April 16. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings will testify, among others. Visit the Senate committee's web site to view a webcast and read testimony from the hearing once they are posted.

April 10: The House Committee on Education and Labor passed the Continued Access to Student Loans Act (HR 5715) yesterday, a contingency plan to protect students from the anticipated credit crisis.

April 9: Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) has introduced a bill to improve financial literacy of elementary, secondary, and college students.

April 8:  The Department of Education has released a list of waivers granted in 2007 under the No Child Left Behind law, the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

April 7: The Department of State has announced a 30-day notice of proposed information collection on the certificate of eligibility for exchange visitor status (J-1). Visit the Federal Register online for more details.

April 4: The Department of Education has announced the final selection criteria and requirements for the Safe and Drug Free Schools programs. Visit the Federal Register online for more details.

April 3: The GAO has released a new report on strategic solutions for the US-VISIT program, the visa program for non-immigrants including students and scholars. The State Department is seeking comment on its non-immigrant visa electronic application. Visit the Federal Register online for more information on how to submit comments.

April 2: The Department of Education has released a notice of proposed rulemaking for FERPA. Visit IFAP online for more information.

April 1: The Student Aid Alliance has submitted testimony to the appropriations subcommittees on education, regarding FY09 spending for student aid and early awareness programs.

Mar 31: Congress reconvenes today from its Spring recess. On the agenda is conference negotiations for the FY09 budget resolution. The main difference between the House-passed and Senate-passed versions of the budget resolution is that the House version includes reconciliation instructions for the finance committees.

Mar 17: The House passed its budget resolution on Thursday, March 13 by a vote of 212 to 207. See how your Representative voted. The House resolution (H Con Res 312) allows for $7.1 billion more for education and training (or a 9% increase) over the President's budget for FY09. The Senate passed its budget resolution on Friday, March 14 by a vote of 51 to 44. See how your Senator voted. The Senate resolution (S Con Res 70) is $5.4 billion over the President's education budget request for FY09, and is $4.8 billion (or 8%) over enacted FY08 levels. Congress is currently in recess until April 1. The next step for the budget resolution is conference, which will occur when Congress reconvenes in early April.

Mar 7: The Senate Budget Committee also marked up their version of the FY09 budget resolution this week. Visit the committee online to view the markup or to read summary documents.

Mar 6: Read a letter from the higher education community, led by ACE, to both education chairmen and ranking members regarding provisions in the HEA dealing with the cohort default rate.

Mar 5: The House Budget Committee held a markup today on the FY09 budget resolution, a non-binding blueprint used by appropriators to determine federal spending. Check out a summary of the chairman's mark (from Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, D-SC). The chairman's mark restores the $4 billion cut from education programs in the President's budget. After both chambers pass a budget resolution, the next step is for appropriators to determine overall funding levels for each federal department. The Senate Budget Committee will also markup its resolution this week, with floor debate scheduled for next week.