This Week in Legislation

 

Week of November 14

 

·       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, House Republicans will hold leadership elections for Speaker, Majority Leader, and Majority Whip and Democrats will hold leadership elections for Minority Leader and Minority Whip in preparation for the upcoming 115^th Congress.

·       Monday and Tuesday, all day, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities holds its Annual Meeting in Austin, TX. Education Secretary John B. King, Jr. gives remarks on Tuesday at 10:45 a.m. where he will address the state of public higher education, the importance of college completion, the new face of today’s college students, and participate in a Q&A about the future direction of public higher education policy.

·       Today at 5:00 p.m., George Washington University hosts a Leadership Series titled, “Our Fiscal Health: How the National Debt Could Impact the Future for America’s Youth.” Participants include: Sheila Bair, President, Washington College and, former Chair, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Jeffrey Lacker, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond; and Brian Rogers, Chairman and Chief Information Officer, T. Rowe Price. The event will be livestreamed on YouTube.

·       On Wednesday and Thursday, all day, the Access Group Center for Research and Policy Analysis holds its 2016 Legal Education Research Symposium in Chicago, IL. The event will be held in conjunction with the 2016 Access Group Graduate and Professional Financial Aid Conference, which is being held Thursday through Saturday. The Legal Education Research Symposium will feature keynote speaker Tom Bevan, Co-Founder and Executive Editor, RealClearPolitics, who will present a post-election analysis and political outlook. The meeting will also feature a series of panels examining diversity and access to legal education; law school affordability; the value of a legal degree; and data to inform decisions on access, affordability, and value. The Graduate and Professional Financial Aid Conference will include general and concurrent sessions regarding post-election predictions for higher education policy in 2017; a strategic approach to student loan repayment; the graduate and professional education policy agenda for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act; exploring public service loan forgiveness; how to effectively reach students online; how to make exit counseling work for you and your students; and financial aid and veterans. For more information and to register, click here.

·       On Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Security holds a hearing titled, “Federal Cybersecurity After the Office of Personnel Management Data Breach: Have Agencies Learned Their Lesson?” Witnesses will be announced at a later date.

·       On Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., the Cato Institute hosts a discussion panel titled, “For-Profit Colleges: Awful or Abused?” For-profit colleges have been accused of deceiving students, fueling debt, and producing atrocious outcomes. Many big chains—most notably Corinthian Colleges and ITT—have gone out of business under heavy scrutiny from public officials. Are for-profit schools truly miserable, or are they being targeted for political reasons? And what do the election results bode for them? Panelists include: Robert Shireman, Senior Fellow, Century Foundation; Richard Vedder, Director, Center for College Affordability and Productivity; Barmak Nassirian, Director of Federal Relations and Policy Analysis, American Association of State Colleges and Universities; Eric Juhlin, Chief Executive Officer, Center for Excellence in Higher Education; Ben Miller, Senior Director, Postsecondary Education, Center for American Progress; Neal McCluskey, Director, Center for Educational Freedom, Cato Institute; and Kimberly Hefling, Senior Education Writer, Politico. The event will be livestreamed on the Cato website.

·       On Thursday at 10:00 a.m., the Joint Economic Committee holds a hearing entitled, “The Economic Outlook.” The Honorable Janet Yellen, Chair, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, will be the sole witness.

·       On Thursday at 7:00 p.m., in celebration of the 20^th anniversary of the Community College Research Center, Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman and Professor Thomas Bailey host Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden to discuss the future of community colleges in the United States.

 

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