CONTENTS
BUDGET, APPROPRIATIONS, TAX ISSUES
- Short-term Budget Extension Approved, Averting Government Shutdown
OTHER CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES
- Perkins Loan Program Expires
OTHER
- Mary Sue Coleman Named Next President of AAU
BUDGET, APPROPRIATIONS, TAX ISSUES
SHORT-TERM BUDGET EXTENSION APPROVED, AVERTING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
Congress approved the 10-week continuing resolution (H.R. 719) on September 30, just in time to send the funding measure to the President for signature before Fiscal Year 2016 began at midnight. Those actions avoided a government shutdown.
The CR does not include the provision demanded by some Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood, the battle over which helped derail earlier approval of the CR.
The funding of Planned Parenthood is among several issues—including raising the debt ceiling, extending expired and expiring tax provisions, and renewing highway funding—that will likely make the next round of FY16 budget negotiations even more difficult. There could still be a government shutdown when the CR expires on December 11.
Further complicating this fall’s budget negotiations was Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew’s announcement that the debt limit would be reached earlier than expected, around November 5. This accelerated timeline could pressure House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to seek agreement on a debt ceiling increase before he retires from Congress on October 30, reports CQ.com.
Meanwhile, President Obama, Speaker Boehner, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have begun discussing a possible two-year budget deal, designed both to avoid a government shutdown in December and prevent a replay of funding battles right before the November 2016 elections. Politico indicates that the leadership discussions are preliminary, focused on the top-line budget numbers, and likely to last beyond October.
PERKINS LOAN PROGRAM EXPIRES
Authorization for the Perkins Loan program expired at midnight September 30. Although the House approved a one-year extension of the Perkins Loan program (H.R. 3594) on September 29, the measure was blocked in the Senate the following day by Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN). The Chairman objected to extending the program through unanimous consent.
Earlier, a bipartisan group of 27 Senators urged Chairman Alexander to support the House legislation, but he has said he wants to sunset the program and possibly consolidate all federal student loan programs into one.
Also allowed to expire on September 30 was the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, a group that has advised the Department of Education and Congress on student aid issues. Authorization for the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity was renewed in the FY16 CR.
Higher Education Associations Urge Extension of Perkins Loan Program
Earlier in the week, a group of 19 higher education associations, including AAU, sent letters to House education leaders expressing support for the one-year extension of the Perkins Loan program and to Senate education leaders urging them to approve the measure.
OTHER
MARY SUE COLEMAN NAMED NEXT PRESIDENT OF AAU
AAU on September 29 announced that Mary Sue Coleman, a former president of the University of Michigan and the University of Iowa, has been appointed by the association’s board of directors to be its next president, effective June 1, 2016.
Coleman will succeed Hunter Rawlings, who has served as president since June 2011. Rawlings informed the board in May of this year that he would retire from AAU next May, when his contract expires.
AAU board chair Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, called Coleman “the ideal person to lead AAU.” “During her tenure at both Iowa and the University of Michigan, Mary Sue was universally regarded as one of the very best presidents in the country,” Gutmann said. “In her strong and sustained university leadership, she has demonstrated the essential role of higher education in the lives of individuals and our society and world. She also knows AAU well, having served previously as Board Chair. I cannot imagine anyone better suited than Mary Sue to advance the research agenda that is at the center of AAU’s mission and that is also absolutely critical to the future of our nation.”