Washington Update

Reconciliation Bill: Next Steps for Public Universities
On July 4, President Trump signed the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act into law at a White House ceremony. The signing was the culmination of many months of work by congressional Republicans and the White House to pass their budget reconciliation measure.

APLU updated its analysis of the law’s provisions with greatest significance to public research universities. As detailed in the analysis, the final measure contains substantial impacts to public research universities and students through a new accountability system for higher education, changes in student loan programs, changes to Pell Grants, tax policy of consequence, and both challenges and new opportunities related to agriculture and nutrition. APLU President Waded Cruzado also sent a message to the membership last Thursday with additional details.

Although the measure includes a number of challenges to public research universities, APLU and its members undoubtedly had a substantial impact in reducing harms. The APLU chart demonstrates the progress made throughout the legislative process, including deeply concerning aspects of the original House bill that did not make it into the final measure.

Senate May Vote on Rescissions Bill Next Week
Following a White House push to rescind previously appropriated federal funding, the House of Representatives passed a funding recission package last month and the bill now reaches a new stage.

July 7 was the first day any senator may move to force a discharge the House-passed $9.4 billion rescissions package from the Senate Appropriations Committee, which has not held a markup. The Senate floor vote could occur next week, and it could include changes to the House version. The House and Senate must pass an identical version of the rescissions package by July 18, or the administration must spend all the funds as appropriated.

Of potential interest to public research universities, the rescissions package includes cuts to public broadcasting and eliminations of Development Assistance funding within the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). A number of Republican senators have expressed concerns with some aspects of the rescissions package, including Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME). The measure would only need a simple majority in the Senate to pass.

OMB Withholds Nearly $7 billion in Education Funding to States, Districts, Institutions
Last week, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) withheld $6.88 billion in U.S. Department of Education (ED) formula funding approved by Congress for FY25 (academic year 2025-26). The funding is normally allocated on July 1 for the upcoming academic year.

Although the funding categories are largely K-12 focused, institutions of higher education are allowable subgrantees or partners with states and school districts for many of these programs. The Committee for Education Funding Coalition, of which APLU is a member, sent the administration a letter urging the immediate release of the funding. The funding includes these formula programs:

• $2.190 billion for Title II-A supporting effective instruction state grants
• $1.38 billion for Title IV-A student support and academic achievement grants
• $1.33 billion for Title IV-B 21^st century community learning centers
• $890 million for Title III-A English language acquisition grants
• $715 million for adult education state grants
• $376 million for Title I-C migrant education state grants

OMB Director Russ Vought shared he plans to use controversial “pocket rescission” authority to withhold funds in federal programs that have not been spent by the last 45 days of the fiscal year. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) has cast doubt on the legality of this practice.

NOAA and NIST Publish Justification for FY26 Budget Request
Last week, NOAA and NIST published additional details of the President’s FY26 Budget Request for the respective agencies. The budget proposes to eliminate NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) as a line office, including the termination of the Cooperative Institutes, National Sea Grant College Program, and Sea Grant Aquaculture Research.

The NIST request proposes to eliminate all federal funding for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program. The administration details that MEP carryover funds be used to cover the costs associated with an orderly shutdown of the program and the centers will be required to operate on an entirely self-supporting basis.  The administration also requests $37 million for the Manufacturing USA program, which is flat funding as compared to FY24 enacted levels.  The Senate appropriations committee is scheduled to markup its draft of the CJS bill, which includes NOAA and NIST, on Thursday.

Proposed Rule to Establish Fixed Period of Admission for International Students
On June 27, the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS/ICE) submitted to OMB a proposed rule to end “duration of status.” “Given the proposed rule considered during the first Trump administration that would have established fixed terms of two or four years for international students in F status and exchange visitors in J status in the United States to complete their degrees and/or research, we anticipate a similar proposal. The regulation did not go into effect previously as it was withdrawn by the Biden administration.

APLU previously signed a community opposition letter. APLU will engage in partnership with the broader higher education community and industry as additional details are available.

OSTP Issues Agency Guidance on Gold Standard Science Implementation
On June 23, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released guidance to the heads of executive departments and agencies on the implementation of the Restoring Gold Standard Science Executive Order (EO).

The guidance lays out the administration’s “Tenets of Gold Standard Science,” which include reproducibility, transparency, communication of error and uncertainty, collaboration and interdisciplinary work, skepticism of findings and assumptions, falsifiable hypotheses, unbiased peer reviews, acceptance of negative results as positive outcomes, and elimination of conflicts of interests.

Within 60 days, agency heads are directed to publish an implementation plan that addresses how each of the tenants are reflected in the agency’s culture and activities. They are also instructed to include funding opportunities and the agency’s budget allocations. Implementation plans are required to discuss how technology, including AI tools, will be leveraged for compliance as well.

In an opinion essay published in Science, OSTP Director Michael Kratsios noted that the administration’s actions intend “to bring the nation’s research enterprise into alignment with high standards that the scientific community has long set for itself” and to address “long-standing concerns about the impact, conduct, and public trust of science.” Science also published an opinion piece opposing the EO and an editorial from Holden Thorp Editor in Chief of Science. 

ED Will Publish its Own Public Service Loan Forgiveness Rule After Negotiators Fail to Reach Consensus
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that after three days of negotiated rulemaking, negotiators did not reach consensus on ED’s updated draft regulation. As it stands, the draft regulation would make nonprofit organizations, including universities, ineligible Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) employers if they promote or engage in “illegal activities, including illegal immigration, terrorism, chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children, child trafficking, illegal discrimination, and a pattern of violating state laws.”

ED will now propose its own final rule for public comment, and if ED finalizes the rule by November 1, 2025, it will take effect by July 1, 2026.

USAID Formally Closed; Merger with State Department Complete
As of July 1, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has formally shuttered. The Agency was founded in 1961 by President Kennedy with the aim of providing global stability through humanitarian aid. USAID was an early target of the incoming Trump administration’s DOGE cuts and was slated for merger with the Department of State; that merger finalized on July 1. Those remaining USAID programs are now administered by State, including the one remaining Feed the Future Innovation Lab. Secretary of State Rubio touted that the future of U.S. aid will be more limited in scope and would prioritize “trade over aid and investment over assistance.”

APLU will continue its advocacy with Congress and the Trump administration on the myriad of ways public research universities engage globally in furtherance of national interests, including through work formerly under the purview of USAID.