This Week in Legislation - Week of June 12, 2017

Week of June 12, 2017

 

·         This week, both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are in session for legislative business. However, neither chamber is expected to consider student financial aid-related legislation. This week, the Trump Administration is expected to hold a series of events focused on expanding apprenticeship program for blue-collar workers, including announcing new executive actions to promote job training.

 

·         Today at 4:00 p.m., the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government holds a hearing on the Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposal for the U.S. Department of Treasury. The sole witness will be The Honorable Steven Mnuchin, Secretary, U.S. Department of Treasury. 

·         On Tuesday and Wednesday, all day, the Federal Reserve holds a two-day meeting of its Federal Open Market Committee. The minutes for each regularly scheduled meeting of the Committee, which include a description of economic and financial conditions, are made available three weeks after its policy decisions are posted in the Federal Reserve Board’s Annual Report.

·         On Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., the Senate Budget Committee holds a hearing on the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposal. The sole witness will be The Honorable Steven Mnuchin, Secretary, U.S. Department of Treasury. 

·         On Tuesday at 2:00 p.m., the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice holds a hearing entitled, “Lawsuit Abuse and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.” Witnesses include: Rob Sweeney, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mobile Media Technologies; Becca Wahlquist, Partner, Snell and Wilmer; Hassan Zavareei, Partner, Tycko and Zavareei, and Adonis Hoffman, Founder and Chairman, Business in the Public Interest. 

 

 

·         On Wednesday starting at 9:00 a.m., the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) hosts a discussion on a new report analyzing how marriage, childbearing, and the “success sequence” are linked to financial well-being and how policymakers, educators, and other civic leaders can promote smart choices among today’s young adults. The event titled, “Millennials and the ‘Success Sequence’: How do Education, Work, and Marriage Affect Poverty and Financial Success Among Millennials?”, features Wendy Wang, Senior Researcher, Insight Research Consulting; W. Bradford Wilcox, Visiting Scholar, AEI; Ron Haskins, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; Annie Lowrey, Contributing Editor, The Atlantic; Ian Rowe, Chief Executive Officer, Public Prep Network; Michael Farkosh, Director of Curriculum and Assessment, Girls Prep Bronx Middle School; Kesi Wilson, Alumni, Girls Prep Bronx Middle School, and Graduate, Philips Exeter Academy; and Daisha Rivas, Student, Girls Prep Bronx Middle School.

·         On Thursday at 9:30 a.m., the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management holds a hearing entitled, “Agency Approaches to Reorganization: Examining the Office of Management and Budget’s Memorandum on the Federal Workforce.” In this hearing, the subcommittee will examine the processes that agencies are pursuing to reorganize, streamline, and make their operations and organizational structures more effective. Witnesses include: The Honorable Ellen Herbst, Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce; Lee Lofthus, Assistant Attorney General for Administration Justice Management Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Don Bice, Associate Director, Office of Budget and Program Analysis, U.S. Department of Agriculture; and Michael Stough, Director, Program Analysis and Evaluation Division, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

 

·         On Thursday at 10:00 a.m., the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development holds a hearing entitled, “Helping Americans Get Back to Work: Implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.” Witnesses will be announced at a later date. 

·         On Thursday at 11:00 a.m., the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee meets to consider S. 410, the Shawna Hill Post 9/11 Education Benefits Transferability Act; S. 473, the Educational Development for Troops and Veterans Act; and S. 882, to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the entitlement to educational assistance under the Post-9/11 Educational Assistance Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs for members of the Armed Forces awarded the Purple Heart.

·         On Thursday at 11:00 a.m., National Journal hosts a free webinar titled, “What’s Next for Financial Reform?”, which will address whether the Trump Administration will embrace the Financial CHOICE Act or pursue its own plan, and outline what to expect in finance policy going forward. National Journal participants include: Hunter Hamrick, Finance Policy and Data Visualization Fellow; Francis Torres, Policy and Data Visualization Fellow; Alistair Taylor, Director of Strategic Content and Presentations; and Dan O’Brien, Network Science Initiative Research Analyst. 

 

 

·         On Thursday at 3:00 p.m., the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) hosts a free webinar titled, “Municipal Advisor Representative Qualification Examination.” During this webinar, staff of the MSRB and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will review the standards of professional qualification for municipal advisors and discuss the enrollment process for taking the MSRB’s Municipal Advisor Representative Qualification Examination (Series 50).

·         Friday is the deadline for the public to provide comments to the U.S. Department of Education on the draft 2018-2019 Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which was released on April 11, 2017. The Department is reporting a net burden increase of 5,790,741 hours for 2018-2019.

 

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