Congress Advances Budget Resolution
CONGRESS ADVANCES BUDGET RESOLUTION
Universities are closely watching as Congress works on a budget resolution for fiscal year 2018 that could create a pathway for tax legislation affecting student aid, charitable giving, and college affordability. A budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 71) passed yesterday by the U.S. House of Representatives would pay for tax cuts in part by cutting student aid programs, while the version approved by the Senate Budget Committee would not include such cuts. Republican legislators hope to approve a compromise version with “reconciliation instructions” that would allow Congress to more easily pass a tax bill without needing a super-majority vote in the U.S. Senate.
BUZZ BITS…
- Vice President Mike Pence hosted the first meeting of the newly reestablished National Space Council, which brings together federal agencies and private industry to reinvigorate the nation’s leadership in space.
- The Internal Revenue Service data retrieval tool for federal financial aid applicants was restored this week, in time for the 2018-2019 academic year.
- The U.S. Department of Education has updated its College Scorecard, providing more recent data and allowing prospective students to compare up to ten colleges at once.
GRANTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is seeking applications for its Cyber-learning for Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program, which aims to advance innovative technologies that facilitate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and re-education for those entering an increasingly technological workforce. This interdisciplinary program integrates education and learning sciences, computer and information science and engineering, and cognitive and behavioral sciences in pursuit of experimental cyber-learning technologies. NSF anticipates making $15 million available for approximately 20 awards. Full proposals are due by January 8, 2018.