Weekly Federal Update 7/11/22

President and Administration

The White House Office of Public Engagement has announced it will host community update calls for Americans with disabilities as part of Disability Pride Month every Thursday of July at 2pm ET… 

The Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) have released their Report on Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2021…

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an administrative stay on the order it previously issued, which had required vaping company Juul to pull its electronic cigarettes from the market…

Rising housing costs, combined with persistent inflation for basic necessities such as gas and food, have left more Americans newly homeless and millions more fearing they’ll soon lose their homes…

The Supreme Court has delivered a major setback to President Biden’s ambitious climate change goals, ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency does not have broad authority to curb planet-warming pollution from power plants…

On 6/27, the Supreme Court widened the scope for religious expression in public facilities, ruling that a high school football coach should have been granted permission to pray on the field after games….

The U.S. is getting close to the Saturday, 7/16, transition to 988—the easy-to-remember number to reach the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline… 

President Biden signed an executive order Friday, 7/8, directing his health department to expand access to abortion pills, beef up enforcement of Obamacare’s birth control coverage mandate, and stand up an army of pro bono lawyers to help defend people criminally charged for seeking or providing the procedure…

Ketanji Brown Jackson took the judicial oath just on Thursday, 6/30, becoming the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court… 

Congress  

This Wednesday, 7/13, there will be an all-Senators classified briefing from administration officials “on the global innovation and technology race and the bipartisan innovation bill which is vital for America’s long-term national security”…

Talks between Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) are beginning to yield concrete results on a potential climate, tax, and prescription drugs package…

Five key Republican senators have penned a letter urging the Senate Democratic leadership to allow the Finance Committee to take up a bipartisan proposal to lower insulin prices instead of bringing it straight to the floor for a vote…

Thirty House Democrats – including some of the party’s most politically vulnerable lawmakers – have sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her leadership team, urging them to take up legislation to boost police funding…

A group of Democrats are urging Congressional leadership to replenish funding for a federal program that has helped students by subsidizing their costs for internet access and the devices they needed to participate in remote schooling during the pandemic… 

Education

New research on pre-pandemic academic achievement in Indianapolis is delivering a mixed bag of results: Students in K-12 schools there posted weaker learning gains in both reading and math than students statewide, while students who attended charter or charter-like “Innovation Network Schools” posted better results across virtually every demographic…

OSERS' Office of Special Education Programs issued its 2022 determinations for states on their implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for Part B and Part C… 

Despite a dramatic decline in suspensions as students moved to remote learning during the pandemic, Black children and those in special education were disciplined far more often than white students and those in general education, according to a recent New York University study…

Last week, the Education Department (ED) unveiled a proposed regulation to no longer capitalize interest in certain situations, including when borrowers enter repayment or default on their loans…

This summer marks the third time in eight years that ED is overhauling its policy on how school districts should handle student discipline…

On 7/5, ED announced a series of actions to support students' academic recovery and to ensure recovery efforts are meeting student, parent, and family needs…

ED released a series of proposed rules last week that would simplify federal loans, to make it easier for students who attended fraudulent colleges or who are public service workers to get loan forgiveness…

The Biden administration is pursuing sweeping new changes to federal Title IX law to restore “crucial protections” for victims of sexual harassment, assault, and sex-based discrimination that it maintains they lost during the Trump administration…

On 6/25, President Biden signed the Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022, which will provide free summer meals for about 30 million kids, regardless of income…

A new calculator tool estimates the learning losses in more than 8,000 school districts across the country…

Last year the National Education Association created a task force to form a new policy on “safe, just, and equitable schools”…

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is hosting the 2022 National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security on November 1-2, 2022…

The number of students graduating from college began rising again in the 2020–21 academic year after a temporary pause in growth during the previous academic year, according to a new report released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center…

The majority of students who started college in fall 2020 came back for their second year, according to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center…

 The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs released an update on several negotiated rule-making agenda items that will not be completed this year and are now scheduled for release in April 2023 at the earliest…