Greetings from Washington, where some of us (not me) have the day off tomorrow.
FY 2019 Appropriations.  I know you’ll be shocked to read this, but Congress is not going to meet its deadline of December 7 to complete all of its spending bills for FY 2019. An extension of that deadline was already likely, but then, due to the events surrounding the funeral of former President George H.W. Bush here in Washington this week, an extension was clearly required, since the House canceled votes for the entire week. So the plan is to extend the funding for another two weeks, until December 21, through unanimous consent in the House. Everyone — CEF, the folks I deal with on the Hill on non-education stuff, etc. — all say that virtually all spending issues are settled on all the remaining bills except for one: how much funding to provide in the Homeland Security bill towards the construction of a southern border wall, or something that they can convince the President is progress toward that.
CEF staff think that it’s possible that the House will first pass an omnibus appropriations bill that a majority of Republicans like, but one that they will know is going to be a non-starter in the Senate (meaning a bill that includes lots of policy riders, more than the $5 billion they already approved for the border wall, and big cuts to programs). After that fails to go forward in the Senate, there could be final negotiations on an omnibus that includes all seven bills, or perhaps a year-long extension of funding for all seven bills or an extension just for the Homeland Security bill with an omnibus appropriations bill for the other six bills. Rest assured they surely won’t get this all figured out until they get closer to the deadline.
Bears repeating that none of this will impact WIOA adult education education funding levels for FY 2019, since the Labor-HHS-Education funding bill was signed into law in September. It’s been an unusual year in that often it’s the Labor-HHS-Education bill that is holding things up. But not this year. (By the way, I keep hearing from folks in the education community and from congressional staff that the trick used this year to get the bill passed — tying it to the defense spending bill — was an effective technique. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see that approach again in the future.)
Congressional Committee Assignments. A reminder that House leadership will not finalize the ratios of Democrats and Republicans for each committee — nor the additions and subtractions for each committee — until after it convenes in January. However, there do not appear to be challenges for any of the standing committee chair positions. That is, in every case, it appears that the current ranking member will move over to be chair. So for example, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) is expected to take over as Chair of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) is expected to chair the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development.
Meanwhile, House Republicans have selected Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) to become the Ranking Member for the House Appropriations Committee next year. She will replace current Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) who is retiring. As far as I know, the current chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), will remain as Ranking Member of that subcommittee. Rep. Rosa Delauro (D-CT) will, of course, take over as chair.
In the Senate, there is some wrangling due to retirements and election losses which is opening up opportunities for some Senators to move to other committees. If you were one of those people who works on environmental issues for example, all you are talking about right now is that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is positioned to take over as Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, assuming current ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) jumps to the Commerce Committee. But you are not one of those people. Rest assured that the Sen. Alexander/Sen. Murray duo will still be in the top spots on Senate HELP.
2019 House Calendar. You can find the 2019 calendar for the House here: https://www.democraticwhip.gov/calendar/2019 https://www.democraticwhip.gov/calendar/2019. In general, the House is in session for three weeks followed by a week of district work period this year.
Administration. The Senate HELP Committee advanced the nomination of Robert King to be Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education last week, as I think I already mentioned. However, no debate on his nomination on the Senate floor has been scheduled as yet.
Tip for future Senior Policy Advisors: It’s always worth a quick perusal of the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General’s annual work plan when it comes out, just in case OCTAE or WIOA or something else of importance to adult ed is being looked at. Nothing this year. But if you want to check yourself: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/misc/wp2019.pdf https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/misc/wp2019.pdf
Also the Department of Labor puts out an annual audit plan: https://www.oig.dol.gov/public/reports/oa/2019/DOL%20OIG%20FY%202019%20Audit%20Workplan.pdf https://www.oig.dol.gov/public/reports/oa/2019/DOL%20OIG%20FY%202019%20Audit%20Workplan.pdf

Jeff

Jeff Carter
Cell: (202) 374-4387 | @jeffcrtr

Senior Policy Advisor
National Coalition for Literacy
www.national-coalition-literacy.org http://www.national-coalition-literacy.org/
jcarter@literacypolicy.org mailto:jcarter@literacypolicy.org
President, Committee for Education Funding

Executive Director
Physicians for Social Responsibility
1111 14th St, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
www.psr.org http://www.psr.org/ | jcarter@psr.org mailto:jcarter@psr.org

Thanks Jeff.

This IS listed in ED OIG’s work plan:
“In the area of Federal student financial assistance programs, effective oversight and monitoring of participants is necessary to ensure that funds are disbursed for only eligible students and to effectively manage the performance of the Federal student loan portfolio. Within this area, our planned audit work includes schools’ use of online program management providers and school compliance with career pathway programs and ability to benefit provisions.”

On today’s call, I’ll share more about what we’re hearing on ATB in particular from ED.
Judy

Judy Mortrude . CLASP . office 202.906.8014 . mobile 651.276.7067 . clasp.org

From: Members members-bounces@lists.national-coalition-literacy.org On Behalf Of Jeff Carter
Sent: Tuesday, December 4, 2018 5:34 PM
To: Nation Coalition for Literacy members@lists.national-coalition-literacy.org
Subject: [NCL Members] Federal Policy Update 12/4/18

Greetings from Washington, where some of us (not me) have the day off tomorrow.
FY 2019 Appropriations.  I know you’ll be shocked to read this, but Congress is not going to meet its deadline of December 7 to complete all of its spending bills for FY 2019. An extension of that deadline was already likely, but then, due to the events surrounding the funeral of former President George H.W. Bush here in Washington this week, an extension was clearly required, since the House canceled votes for the entire week. So the plan is to extend the funding for another two weeks, until December 21, through unanimous consent in the House. Everyone — CEF, the folks I deal with on the Hill on non-education stuff, etc. — all say that virtually all spending issues are settled on all the remaining bills except for one: how much funding to provide in the Homeland Security bill towards the construction of a southern border wall, or something that they can convince the President is progress toward that.
CEF staff think that it’s possible that the House will first pass an omnibus appropriations bill that a majority of Republicans like, but one that they will know is going to be a non-starter in the Senate (meaning a bill that includes lots of policy riders, more than the $5 billion they already approved for the border wall, and big cuts to programs). After that fails to go forward in the Senate, there could be final negotiations on an omnibus that includes all seven bills, or perhaps a year-long extension of funding for all seven bills or an extension just for the Homeland Security bill with an omnibus appropriations bill for the other six bills. Rest assured they surely won’t get this all figured out until they get closer to the deadline.
Bears repeating that none of this will impact WIOA adult education education funding levels for FY 2019, since the Labor-HHS-Education funding bill was signed into law in September. It’s been an unusual year in that often it’s the Labor-HHS-Education bill that is holding things up. But not this year. (By the way, I keep hearing from folks in the education community and from congressional staff that the trick used this year to get the bill passed — tying it to the defense spending bill — was an effective technique. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see that approach again in the future.)
Congressional Committee Assignments. A reminder that House leadership will not finalize the ratios of Democrats and Republicans for each committee — nor the additions and subtractions for each committee — until after it convenes in January. However, there do not appear to be challenges for any of the standing committee chair positions. That is, in every case, it appears that the current ranking member will move over to be chair. So for example, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) is expected to take over as Chair of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) is expected to chair the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development.
Meanwhile, House Republicans have selected Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) to become the Ranking Member for the House Appropriations Committee next year. She will replace current Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) who is retiring. As far as I know, the current chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), will remain as Ranking Member of that subcommittee. Rep. Rosa Delauro (D-CT) will, of course, take over as chair.
In the Senate, there is some wrangling due to retirements and election losses which is opening up opportunities for some Senators to move to other committees. If you were one of those people who works on environmental issues for example, all you are talking about right now is that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is positioned to take over as Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, assuming current ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) jumps to the Commerce Committee. But you are not one of those people. Rest assured that the Sen. Alexander/Sen. Murray duo will still be in the top spots on Senate HELP.
2019 House Calendar. You can find the 2019 calendar for the House here: https://www.democraticwhip.gov/calendar/2019. In general, the House is in session for three weeks followed by a week of district work period this year.
Administration. The Senate HELP Committee advanced the nomination of Robert King to be Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education last week, as I think I already mentioned. However, no debate on his nomination on the Senate floor has been scheduled as yet.
Tip for future Senior Policy Advisors: It’s always worth a quick perusal of the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General’s annual work plan when it comes out, just in case OCTAE or WIOA or something else of importance to adult ed is being looked at. Nothing this year. But if you want to check yourself: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/misc/wp2019.pdf
Also the Department of Labor puts out an annual audit plan: https://www.oig.dol.gov/public/reports/oa/2019/DOL%20OIG%20FY%202019%20Audit%20Workplan.pdf

Jeff

Jeff Carter
Cell: (202) 374-4387 | @jeffcrtr

Senior Policy Advisor
National Coalition for Literacy
www.national-coalition-literacy.orghttp://www.national-coalition-literacy.org/
jcarter@literacypolicy.orgmailto:jcarter@literacypolicy.org
President, Committee for Education Funding

Executive Director
Physicians for Social Responsibility
1111 14th St, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
www.psr.orghttp://www.psr.org/ | jcarter@psr.orgmailto:jcarter@psr.org