WiRSA Update - July 30, 2024

Update From CEF (Center for Education Funding)

I.  Policy Intelligence and Education News

• Education amendments filed for House Labor-HHS-Education bill – House members filed 190 amendments to the fiscal year (FY) FY 2025 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill  - you can see all the amendments on the House Rules Committee website here. The following list includes education-related amendments that would impact funding levels or that would restrict the use of federal education funding. It does not include amendments that increase and then decrease funding by the same amount for a particular program, as those amendments would not have any impact on funding levels or policy; the sponsors are using the amendments to raise a particular topic, and I’d expect the amendments to be withdrawn after they are debated if they are made in order. Most of the education-related amendments below reduce or eliminate funding for a particular program, account, or the salary of the Secretary of Education. A few of the amendments increase funding for a particular program, offset by a cut in another Education or HHS program. It is possible – but I think unlikely – that the House could debate this bill next week. At this point, the Rules Committee says only that it “may meet the week of July 29th to provide for floor consideration” of this bill. Republicans already pulled two appropriations bills from this week’s schedule.

• Amendment 5 by Rep. Green (R-GA) and Amendment 20 by Rep. Miller (R-IL) – both reduce the salary of Education Secretary Cardona to $1

• Amendment 8 by Rep. Norman (R-SC) - prohibits funding for the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid Office of Enforcement

• Amendment 9 by Rep. Espaillat (D-NY) – strikes the section of the bill student loan cancellation and the new loan repayment model

• Amendment 10 by Rep. Craig (D-MN) – strikes all LGBTQ+ riders

• Amendment 28 by Rep. Murphy (R-NC) - prohibits funding from going to any public institution of higher education that conditions admissions, or hiring faculty  based on someone making a statement of personal support for or opposition to any political ideology or movement, including regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion.

• Amendment 40 by Rep. Magaziner (D-RI) – increases Pell Grant funding by $40 million, decreases HHS Departmental Management by $40 million

• Amendment 87 by Rep. Frankel (D-FL) – increases funding for ED’s Office of Civil Rights by $32 million to combat antisemitism, cuts ED’s Innovation and Improvement account by $32 million (among other programs, this account includes the charter schools program, whose funding was increased an additional $10 million by an amendment in Committee that cut the funding from the Office of Civil Rights – Rep. Frankel sought to overturn that change in the Committee markup)

• Amendment 98 by Rep. Biggs (R-AZ) – cuts $51.7 million from Department of Education program administration (that account is already cut by 50%)

• Amendment 109 by Rep. Steube (R-FL) – adds HR 684 (Protecting Higher Education from Foreign Threats Act) to prohibit funds going to institutions of higher education that employ instructors funded by the Chinese Communist Party

• Amendment 145 by Rep. Houchin (R-IN) – prohibits funding from being used for three cuing (also known as Meaning, Syntax, Visual) or balanced literacy

• Amendment 150 by Rep. Stansbury (D-NM) – adds $55 million for Postsecondary Student Success Grants

• Amendment 176 by Rep. Manning (D-NC) – adds $10 million to the Office of Civil Rights (rejecting a $10 million cut), paid for by cutting Program Administration another $10 million (it is already cut by 50%)

HHS amendment:

• Amendment 42 by Rep. Magaziner (D-RI) – increases Head Start funding by $40 million, decreases HHS Departmental Management by $40 million