Senate Democrats and House Republicans Begin Higher Ed Act Reauthorization
On June 26, House Republicans announced three new bills in what they are calling their “piecemeal” approach to reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA), last reauthorized in 2008. Since the last COSSA Washington Update, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) released a full discussion draft outlining his vision for reauthorization. Public comment on the Senate draft is being accepted until August 29.
The three bills is the House comprising the House’s piecemeal approach are the Empowering Students through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act (H.R. 4984), the Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act (H.R. 4983), and the Simplifying the Application for Student Aid Act (H.R. 4982), the latter being the only bill with Democratic cosponsors. House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) has said that he expects the House to vote on these three bills sometime before the November elections.