This Week in Legislation - Week of February 27, 2017

Week of February 27, 2017

 

·         This week, both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate are in session for legislative business. While neither chamber is expected to consider student financial aid-related legislation, the U.S. House is expected to consider a number of regulatory reform bills, including:

 

o   H.R. 998, the Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act, which would establish a Retrospective Regulatory Review Commission tasked with reviewing the Code of Federal Regulations to review those federal rules that should be repealed to lower the cost of regulation to the economy, with a special focus on those major rules that have been in effect for more than 15 years, impose paperwork burdens or unfunded mandates, and impose disproportionately high costs on small businesses.

o   H.R. 1004, the Regulatory Integrity Act, which would require each federal agency to make publicly available a list of pending regulatory actions.

o   H.R. 1009, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Insight, Reform, and Accountability Act, which would create a Regulatory Working Group at the Office of Management and Budget whose members would assist federal agencies in the development of innovative regulatory techniques; the methods, efficacy, and utility of comparative risk assessment in regulatory decision-making; and the development of streamlined regulatory approaches for small businesses and other entities. The bill would also require each federal agency to release an annual regulatory plan that includes each significant regulatory action that the agency reasonably expects to issue in proposed or final form in the following fiscal year, and expand the amount of information included in the bi-yearly Unified Agenda.

 

·         Today at 6:30 p.m., New America hosts a conversation with Tressie McMillan Cottom, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and author of Lower Ed: the Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy. Other participants include: Robert Shireman, Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation; Laura Hanna, Founder and Co-Director, Debt Collective; Sarah Jaffe, Journalist and Fellow, The Nation Institute, and Author, Necessary Trouble: Americans In Revolt; and Stephen Burd, Senior Policy Analyst, Education Policy, New America.

·         On Tuesday, all day, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) host the leadership of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) on Capitol Hill. The HBCU Fly-In hosted by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund will bring together 85 presidents and chancellors to focus on opportunity, strengthening bilateral relationships, and celebrating the importance of our country’s HBCUs. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will serve as the event’s keynote speaker. Other participants include: House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI); Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL); Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL); Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC); Rep. Mia Love (R-UT); Johnny Taylor, President, Thurgood Marshall Foundation; and Dr. Michael Lomax, President and Chief Executive Officer, United Negro College Fund.

·         On Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education holds a hearing entitled, “Providing More Students a Pathway to Success by Strengthening Career and Technical Education.” Witnesses include: Glen Johnson, Manufacturing Workforce Development Leader, BASF Corporation; Janet Goble, Director of Career and Technical Education, Canyons School District; Mimi Lufkin, Chief Executive Officer, National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity; and Mike Rowe, Chief Executive Officer, mikeroweWORKS Foundation.

·         On Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., the House Financial Services Committee meets to consider its views and estimates on the federal budget for fiscal year 2018.  The document includes the following language, which will be sent to the House Budget Committee for possible inclusion in the Congressional budget resolution:

The Committee remains gravely concerned that the Dodd-Frank Act has failed to achieve its proponents’ stated goals of promoting the financial stability of the United States, ending “too big to fail” and taxpayer bailouts, and protecting consumers. Instead, the Committee believes that the Dodd-Frank Act has endangered taxpayers and our economy by enshrining “too big to fail” in statute, creating endless new regulatory mandates from Washington that have resulted in fewer and more expensive financial products and services, increased moral hazard in markets by failing to address the true causes of the financial crisis, and hampered economic growth. The Committee intends to advance legislative proposals – including the Financial CHOICE Act – to replace the failed aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act with free-market alternatives that end bailouts once-and-for-all, restore market discipline, ensure that the financial system is more resilient, pare back unnecessary and burdensome regulations, encourage capital formation and economic growth, and protect consumers by preserving financial independence and consumer choice. In addition, the Committee intends to advance legislation to place the non-monetary policy activities of the independent agencies within the Committee’s jurisdiction on the appropriations process.

·         On Tuesday at 2:00 p.m., The Heritage Foundation holds a discussion with the authors of the publication, Prosperity Unleashed: Smarter Financial Regulation. Panelists include: David Burton, Senior Fellow in Economic Policy, The Heritage Foundation; Diane Katz, Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy, The Heritage Foundation; Brian Knight, Senior Research Fellow with the Financial Markets Working Group, The Heritage Foundation; Thaya Brook Knight, Associate Director, Financial Regulation Studies, Cato Institute; and George Selgin, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, Cato Institute talk about their publication which provides solutions to the core regulatory problems that have existed in U.S. financial markets for decades. For details and to register, visit The Heritage Foundation website.

 

·         On Tuesday at 9:00 p.m., President Donald Trump delivers his first address to a joint session of Congress in which he is expected to outline his legislative agenda, including budgetary and economic goals.

 

·         On Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor/Health and Human Services/Education holds a hearing to receive testimony from Members of Congress on their funding priorities.

·         On Wednesday at 2:00 p.m., the Federal Reserve releases its Beige Book. Eight times a year, the Fed releases its Beige Book, a summary of current economic conditions for the 12 Federal Reserve Districts based on anecdotal information gathered through reports from Bank and Branch Directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources.

·         On Wednesday at 6:00 p.m., Federal Reserve Board of Governors Member Lael Brainard gives a speech titled, “Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy,” at the Malcolm Wiener Lecture in International Political Economy being held in Cambridge, MA.

·         On Thursday at 10:00 a.m., the House Budget Committee holds a hearing to receive testimony from Members of Congress on their priorities for the federal budget for fiscal year 2018.

 

·         On Thursday beginning at 10:30 a.m., the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Consumer Advisory Board meets to discuss consumer reporting activities, including the Bureau’s open credit score initiative; review the CFPB’s enforcement actions over the last five years; examine trends and themes in consumer financial markets; and receive an update on enhancements to the Bureau’s Consumer Complaint Database. CFPB Director Richard Cordray will deliver opening remarks.

·         On Friday at 12:15 p.m., Federal Reserve Board of Governors Member Jerome Powell gives a speech titled, “Innovation, Technology, and the Payments System,” at the Roundtable on Blockchain: The Future of Finance and Capital Markets being held in New Haven, CT.

·         On Friday at 12:30 p.m., Federal Reserve Board of Governors Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer gives a speech titled, “Fed Monetary Policy Decision-Making,” at the 2017 U.S. Monetary Policy Forum in New York, NY.

·         On Friday at 1:00 p.m., Federal Reserve Board of Governors Chairwoman Janet Yellen gives a speech on the country’s economic outlook at the Executives Club of Chicago in Chicago, IL.

 

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