Washington Update

Lame Duck Action 
With only a few weeks left in the 118^th Congress, there are a number of items of active negotiation and potential action for the legislative branch before next year. 

• FY2025 Appropriations Update 
  With government funding running through December 20 of this year, lawmakers must resolve the next step on Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations in the lame-duck session. With no agreement on topline or subcommittee allocations yet, Congress has run out of time to pass individual appropriations bills this year. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) anticipates passing a continuing resolution (CR) through the latter half of March, while Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), the incoming Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is floating the idea of a shorter CR just into January.  
• College Cost Reduction Act (CCRA) 
  House Republican Leadership and House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) continue pushing to earn the votes needed to pass the College Cost Reduction Act on the House floor this month. Although the bill will not be taken up by the Senate this year, many of the bill’s most harmful provisions are potential targets for inclusion in a fast-track GOP reconciliation bill next Congress.  
  
  The Big Picture: APLU President Mark Becker sent a letter to committee members in January outlining areas of concern, areas of support, and areas APLU could back in the bill with key improvements. While some improvements were made during the committee markup process, such as the restoration of Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (SEOG), the legislation has largely remained unchanged and APLU’s fundamental concerns still exist. For example, APLU continues to take issue with provisions of the legislation that penalize institutions through “risk sharing,” policies that inappropriately insert the federal government into matters such as tuition setting, and elimination of PLUS loans. Thus, APLU’s opposes the legislation and has encouraged member institutions through the Council on Governmental Affairs to advocate in opposition. 
  
• FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act 
  House and Senate negotiations over the FY25 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorizes activities conducted by the Pentagon, are reportedly nearing completion and will potentially soon be ready to move through both chambers. A significant disagreement has been over the topline authorization number, with the Senate requesting the bill authorize $25 billion more than the House. Given he NDAA is likely one of the few items Congress will pass in the remaining year, consideration is also being given as to whether to attach additional legislation to the bill, including provisions related to competition with China and artificial intelligence.  
  
• FAFSA Deadline Act Headed to the White House 
  The Senate unanimously passed the FAFSA Deadline Act on November 20, following House passage November 15. The bill now heads to the White House, where President Biden is expected to sign it into law. APLU endorsed the legislation, which would require the U.S. Department of Education to make the FAFSA available beginning October 1 annually, rather than January 1 in current law.  
  
  The Big Picture: As APLU noted in its endorsement letter to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the tumultuous rollout of the FAFSA created severe harms to students, families, and colleges and universities. Though the timeline is just one factor in a smooth implementation, it is a critical component.  This year, the U.S. Department of Education fully launched the 2025-26 FAFSA on November 21, after end-to-end beta testing in partnership with some APLU members and other institutions.  
  
• Senate May Bring Up the Stop Campus Hazing Act 
  Efforts to bring the Stop Campus Hazing Act to the Senate floor are still underway. The bill could potentially advance through a unanimous consent agreement, allowing it to pass with limited debate and no amendments.  
  
  APLU appreciates its members’ engagement throughout the legislative process, which helped demonstrate the higher education community’s commitment to fostering safe campus environments and secure helpful changes in the legislation as it was considered in the House of Representatives. While the bill has substantially improved from earlier versions and APLU does not oppose the legislation, the association has expressed its preference for continued improvements to reduce administrative burdens and clarify obligations.   

President-Elect Trump Nominates Brooke Rollins for Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
President-elect Donald Trump announced he intends to nominate Brooke Rollins for Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). APLU President Mark Becker issued a statement following the announcement, expressing congratulations and emphasizing the organization’s interest in collaborating with the secretary-designate to strengthen the existing partnership between the USDA and public and land-grant universities.  

APLU Joins Community Letter on Animal Research Appropriations 
Last Friday, APLU alongside 25 associations, joined a letter urging House and Senate appropriators to support animal research in the FY25 appropriations bills and to reject overly restrictive provisions. Animal-based research conducted in veterinary schools and biomedical research programs is crucial to advancing new developments in medical science for animals and humans.  

Go deeper: The letter instead asks Congress to affirm and invest in necessary animal research to maintain biomedical progress, emphasize high-quality science, and provide dedicated funding to support and expand the scientific workforce and animal research infrastructure. 

Responding to Higher Ed Advocacy, VA Eases GI Bill Reporting Requirements 
In response to a joint letter from APLU and the higher education community, the VA issued a clarification last week to reduce data reporting burden on institutions.  

Under current GI Bill law, for an institution to be eligible for participation in GI Bill programs, no program at the institution may enroll beneficiaries as more than 85 percent of full-time enrollment. The law includes an exemption: if GI Bill students make up less than 35 percent of total full-time enrollment across all programs at the institution, the programs may still participate in the GI Bill and the institution need only certify they meet the 35 percent exemption. Thus, the institution is exempted from onerous VA compliance burdens on enrollment data.  

Go Deeper: Earlier this year, the VA proposed new GI Bill data collection requirements, which would have required all institutions to collect and report GI Bill and non-GI Bill enrollment data for every program to VA, even if the institution met the 35 percent exemption. This burdensome reporting requirement would take significant time away from staff actually serving veterans. 

In response, APLU and the higher education community sent a joint letter to the VA, emphasizing that under current law, institutions meeting the 35 percent exemption schoolwide should not be required to report. In response to the request, the VA announced last week that for institutions enrolling less than 35 percent GI Bill recipients schoolwide, only non-accredited facilities will be required to report 85/15 data to VA.