Faculty and Staff

As part of its legislative monitoring and advocacy program, the Office of Government and Community Relations tracks legislation, regulations and federal initiatives that affect the University as well as its individual programs, colleges and departments. Consequently, our staff maintains a close working relationship with local congressional offices, executive offices, agencies and national associations. If there is an issue that you believe could have a detrimental impact on the University, please contact our office at 315-443-3919.

The 110th Congress
Important Dates
Budget and Appropriations Bills
Higher Education Authorization Act
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Veterans Education Tuition Support Bill
Student Loan Bill
Federal Resources and Links

The 110th Congress

The 110th Congress was sworn in on January 4, 2007. After the 2006 elections, the control of both houses tipped to the Democrats for the first time since the 103rd Congress of 1993-1995. Democrat Nancy Pelosi is the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House and pledged to accomplish a specific platform in the first 100 hours of the new session.

• President Bush delivered his State of the Union address on January 28, 2008.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has confirmed what many observers had predicted: rather than fight with Republicans and the White House over the FY09 spending bills, Democratic leaders expect to move a continuing resolution (CR) in September '08 that would fund federal programs at current levels through early 2009.

For detail on appropriations per agency, look at the Association of American Universities' excellent charts.

Congress has been working on the long-overdue reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) for the past seven years. It has not been fully reauthorized since 1998. Although the higher education community does not support the bill, Congress was eager to finally complete this. Both houses passed the HEA and President Bush signed it on August 14, 2008, although he has criticized it for being "duplicative."

--HEA Goals

One goal of the HEA is ostensibly to keep college costs down through greater transparency without imposing price controls. However, because of its 100 new reporting requirements, the HEA will likely drive costs up for students. Lamar Alexander, former Secretary of Education and now a Republican senator from Tennessee, is an eloquent critic of the HEA. He illustrated the amount of new regulations imposed on higher education by showing a stack of five cartons almost five feet high on the Senate floor. He said the new legislation would double the pile. (Read his comments in the Congressional Record).

--HEA Provisions

We expect to shortly receive a full summary of the bill's provisions from the Association of American Universities, which we will post on this page. In the meantime, here are some provisions of interest:

• Tuition and fee reporting: colleges and universities must report to the Education Department what their tuition is, why their tuition has gone up, and measures to control increases. The Department would then release to the public college "watch lists", in order to shame schools into not raising tuition and fees.
• Year-round Pell grants are now available: this will allow low-income students to complete their degrees more quickly.
• Simplified federal aid form (a two-page "FAFSA-EZ" form.)
• Loan transparency: Colleges must disclose all relationships with student lenders and bans all gifts and revenue-sharing agreements between institutions and lenders offering federal and private loans.
• Textbooks: publishers would be required to sell textbooks "unbundled" from workbooks and DVDs.
• State maintenance of effort: states would be penalized for failing to increase funding for their state university systems, regardless of economic conditions.
• Peer-to-peer illegal file sharing: schools would have to take significant steps to keep students from illegally sharing copyrighted files.
• Universities must immediately notify students of emergency situations. (Many schools already had an emergency notification system in place, even before the Virginia Tech shootings.)

Source: Association of American Universities

Senator Harkin Skeptical About Higher Education Concerns Over ADA Legislation

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) recently convened a public meeting of representatives from several communities, including higher education, to discuss concerns about legislation approved by the House (H.R. 3195) that would modify the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Senator Harkin said the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee would mark up the bill in the near future.

During the roundtable discussion, Terry Hartle, Senior Vice President of the American Council on Education, said the higher education community welcomed the broadening of the ADA but wanted to protect the authority of colleges and universities to preserve their academic standards. He encouraged Senators to affirm that principle in statute. Senator Harkin, who played a key role in passing the ADA 18 years ago, expressed skepticism about higher education's position and said simply, "We can't do that."

Additional information about the roundtable, including testimony of the participants, is available on the Senate HELP Committee Web site [link to http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2008_07_15/2008_07_15.html].

Source: Association of American Universities

Veteran Affairs Committees Approve Veterans' Education Tuition Support Bill

The House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees considered the Veterans Education Tuition Support Act (H.R.2910, S.1718), a bill that is aimed at helping members of the Armed Services complete and pay for their college educations despite military deployments. The measure was marked up in the House Veterans' Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee; the Senate bill was incorporated into a larger package of veterans' benefits. The bill is expected to be attached to the FY09 Defense Authorization bill.

The VETS Act of 2007 would amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide members of the Armed Services with tuition reimbursement for programs of education delayed by military service, deferment of student loans and reduced interest rates during periods of military service, and reenrollment with the same educational and academic status. During markup, the Senate bill was incorporated into the Veterans' Benefit Improvement Act of 2008 (S. 3023), which was then approved.

A group of higher education associations, including AAU, submitted comments to the committees on June 25 expressing support for the legislation's goal of enabling service men and women to further their education. Their letter also pointed out that the new legislation needs to be reconciled with the Higher Education Act and existing regulations, and it stated that association staff would like to help committee staff do so.

Orphan Works Legislation Appears Stalled in House and Senate Committees

Orphan works legislation, which aims to balance the ability to make use of copyrighted works whose owners cannot be found against the interests of copyright owners, appears stalled in both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

The House Judiciary Committee postponed markup of its bill (H.R. 5889) because the user groups the bill is intended to assist oppose two key provisions. Specifically, the libraries, museums, universities, and other user groups cannot support proposed language regarding the "best practices" for undertaking a qualifying search for the copyright owner, nor proposals offered by some copyright owner groups to allow injunctions in certain cases, which would undermine the basic structure of the bill.

In the absence of support by the user groups, the Committee seems disinclined to move the bill. The user groups have indicated a willingness to continue to work with committee staff and other interested parties to address the outstanding concerns, but it is not clear if work will continue.

The Senate bill (S. 2913), which was reported from the Judiciary Committee on May 15, reportedly has not gone to the Senate floor because several Senators have placed holds on it.

Source: Association of American Universities

House Judiciary Committee Approves False Claims Act Bill

The House Judiciary Committee has marked up and approved the False Claims Correction Act of 2007 (H.R. 4854). The higher education community has been especially concerned about provisions that would significantly increase institutional liability in the event of overpayments and make institutions significantly more vulnerable to lawsuits.

During the markup, committee members discussed university concerns about the "unintended consequences" of the legislation. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), offered a manager's amendment that partially addresses the overpayment and statute of limitations issues but leaves unchanged provisions on the public disclosure bar and pleading rules for relators. Regarding overpayment, the manager's amendment would require that intent to defraud be proved but does not acknowledge existing reconciliation processes followed by universities, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Institutes of Health. The statute of limitations provision in the manager's amendment essentially would split the difference between current law and the original draft, setting it at eight years.

Committee staff members indicate that they intend to work with the higher education community as the legislative process advances. Source: Association of American Universities

Student Loan Bill Signed by President

On May 7, 2008, the President signed into law legislation that addresses the problems in the student loan market (H.R. 5715).

The amended bill expands eligibility for the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and SMART Grant programs and includes added regulatory requirements for the new lending authorities authorized by the bill. It also requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study on the impact of raising student loan limits on tuition, fees, and living costs at colleges and universities and on private student loan borrowing. A comprehensive summary of the amended bill is available from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

Federal Resources and Links

• The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU)

  NAICU serves as the unified national voice of independent higher education. Since 1976, the association has represented private colleges and universities on policy issues with the federal government, such as those affecting student aid, taxation, and government regulation. With nearly 1,000 members nationwide, NAICU reflects the diversity of private, nonprofit higher education in the United States.

• The Association of American Universities (AAU)

  AAU was founded in 1900 to advance the international standing of U.S. research universities. An association of 62 leading research universities in the U.S. and Canada, AAU focuses on issues that are important to research-intensive universities, such as funding for research, research policy issues, and graduate and undergraduate education.

  Continuously updated budget and appropriations materials by agency – including the latest funding numbers, a summary of federal and congressional actions, and an overall AAU funding priorities chart – are available on their site.

• The American Council on Education (ACE)

  ACE is the major coordinating body for all the nation's higher education institutions. ACE seeks to provide leadership and a unifying voice on key higher education issues and to influence public policy through advocacy, research, and program initiatives. Founded in 1918, its members include approximately 1,800 accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities and higher education-related associations, organizations, and corporations.

• Office of the Clerk, US House of Representatives

• US House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce

• US Department of Education

• THOMAS (information on congressional bills from the Library of Congress)