This Week in Legislation - Week of January 3

 

 

Week of January 3, 2017

·         Today, the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate convene to start the first session of the 115^th Congress. While neither chamber is expected to consider any specific student financial aid-related legislation, both the House and Senate will swear-in their new members, formally approve the leadership teams, and begin appointing members to committees. Other items of note, include:

o   On Wednesday, the Senate will begin consideration of the budget resolution setting spending and policy changes for fiscal year 2017, which began on October 1, 2016. The resolution will be used as a vehicle to expedite consideration of legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act.  

o   On Thursday, the House is expected to consider the Midnight Rules Relief Act, which would allow for en bloc consideration of resolutions allowing Congress to disprove of rules issued in the final days of a Presidential Administration, and the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which would require major rules of the executive branch to be approved by Congress before they go into effect.   

o   On Friday, a Joint Session of Congress will convene to count the electoral ballots for the President and Vice President of the United States.

·         On Wednesday at 2:00 p.m., the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) releases the minutes of its two-day meeting held December 13-14, 2016.

·         On Wednesday at 2:00 p.m., the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education Policy hosts a public forum examining the history and future of federal education policy titled, “Federal Education Policy Under the Trump Administration.” Participants include: Douglas Harris, Professor of Economics and Schleider Foundation Chair in Public Education, Tulane University, and Nonresident Fellow, the Brookings Institution; Lindsay Fryer, Vice President, Penn Hill Group; Gerard Robinson, Resident Fellow, Education Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute; Marty West, Assistant Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education; and Arne Duncan, Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, and Nonresident Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brown Center on Education Policy. For details, visit the Brookings website.

·         On Friday at 10:00 a.m., First Lady Michelle Obama hosts her final Reach Higher Education Event at the White House. The event will celebrate school counselors across the country for everything they do to support young people – push, guide, and mentor them on their way to earning a postsecondary degree. The event will be broadcast live on the White House website.

·         On Saturday at 11:15 a.m., Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell speaks on Low Interest Rates and Financial Markets at the Allied Social Sciences Associations Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL.

 

This information is shared by SASFAA's Legislative Affairs' Committee and NCHER.