While lawmakers continue to clash over the next coronavirus relief package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reached a tentative agreement this week for a "clean" continuing resolution to extend current government funding and avoid a government shutdown at the end of September, Politico reported.
In August, the House passed a six-bill appropriations minibus, including Labor, Health and Human Services, Education for the upcoming fiscal year. The approved spending bill would modestly boost the Education Department budget by $716 million to $73.5 billion and increase funding for a number of student aid programs. The legislation would also amend the 90-10 rule—tightening the maximum share of revenue for-profit institutions can take in from federal sources at 85 percent and counting military education benefits as federal revenue—and block Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from carrying out her new Title IX regulations governing sexual misconduct in schools and colleges.
The Republican Senate largely opposed the Democrat-led, House-passed legislation, but never officially considered the minibus or produced its own education funding proposal.
As a result, congressional leaders are now focused on a short-term extension, reported Politico. It remains unclear how long the stopgap would extend government funding past September 30, although a mid-December deadline would be the traditional practice during an election year.
Lawmakers and the Trump administration less than a month to reach agreement and enact legislation to keep the federal government running when fiscal year 2021 begins on October 1.
Related Link
Politico
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-education-coronavirus-special-edition/2020/09/08/how-the-pandemic-destroyed-back-to-school-week-790262