- House clears key markups, moves forward with reconciliation legislation
- Senate HELP Committee looks forward on key nominations, higher education policy
House clears key markups, moves forward with reconciliation legislation
This week, the House wrapped a series of marathon markups in three key committees – Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Agriculture. Together, the bills advanced by these three committees represent the bulk of House Republicans’ reconciliation priorities and deliver significant changes to public benefits programs and tax policy. The bills were each advanced out of committee on party-line votes.
Each committee bill, including the Education and Workforce bill approved last month, will now be sent to the Budget Committee before being packaged and considered by the full House. House Republican leadership faces a razor-thin majority and may consider additional changes, particularly on contentious tax issues still unresolved within the caucus. If the House is unable to pass its reconciliation package, the Senate may take the lead in moving the process forward. Either way, key senators have indicated that they are unlikely to accept the House’s proposals without modifications.
AACC continues to urge community colleges to contact their House member about the Education and Workforce Committee bill, stating support for Workforce Pell and money to shore up the Pell Grant program and opposition to the bill’s Pell eligibility changes and new risk-sharing scheme. This bill would deliver the most significant changes for community colleges and our students and should be where the sector’s collective lobbying and advocacy efforts are focused. However, there are changes in this week’s approved bills that will impact many community college students and state financing for public education.
The House Agriculture Committee approved its reconciliation proposal on Wednesday, which includes significant changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) alongside new investments in farm safety net programs. The bill ultimately cuts $300 billion from federal spending in the SNAP program. The savings would be generated by increasing the age range for SNAP participants subject to the program’s work requirements to 64, constraining the Secretary of Agriculture’s ability to make changes to the generosity of benefits, and instituting a new cost-sharing scheme for states. Currently, SNAP benefit costs are paid for by the federal government, with states asked to pay half of the costs associated with program administration. The House proposal would put states on the hook for 5 percent of the program’s benefit costs, with a sliding scale up to 25 percent for states that have a high payment error rate.
Many community college students participate in SNAP, although uptake for the program is low even among eligible, food insecure students. While the changes to SNAP eligibility will not impact student eligibility directly, the new age requirements may lead some students to lose benefits if they live in a household with a family member under 64 who does not fulfill the new extended work requirement. The larger effect of proposed SNAP changes will be the potential negative impact on state funding for higher education. The new 5 to 25 percent cost share will represent a significant new budget item for states. Along with proposed changes to Medicaid financing (see below), this will spell a difficult fiscal environment for public higher education funding across the country.
Also on Thursday, the House Committee on Energy & Commerce completed its markup after 26 hours of debate. The Committee has jurisdiction over the Medicaid program and was tasked with finding $880 billion in savings, most of which would have to come from changes to Medicaid eligibility and the federal cost share. While the final bill did not ultimately include many of the more draconian cost-saving measures that were proposed, including per-capita caps on the federal share of Medicaid funding or major cuts to the generosity of the federal match, it does include new work requirements for Medicaid enrollees and limits to state-levied provider taxes.
Under the new Medicaid work requirements, Medicaid enrollees must participate in work, education, or volunteer activities for 80 hours a month to maintain their health coverage. While most community college students participating in Medicaid will likely meet this threshold through a combination of school and work, it would introduce additional steps in enrollment, certification, and recertification processes that could serve as significant administrative burdens for students. Like the Agriculture Committee’s bill, the Energy & Commerce bill’s largest impact on community colleges would likely come from decreasing state resources for higher education. By capping or limiting the taxes that states can levy on Medicaid providers, states would have to come up with alternative ways of financing their share of Medicaid expenses. This would ultimately mean shifting limited state resources away from other budget items, like higher education.
Finally, the House Ways & Means Committee (which has jurisdiction over tax issues) completed its markup this week as well. The bill extends the tax cuts that were enacted as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, includes many of President Trump’s campaign promises around tax issues, and majorly increases taxes on private universities with large endowments. The bipartisan Tax-Free Pell Grant Act was not included in the House text, to the disappointment of AACC. Colleges are encouraged to mention their support for the measure in meetings with their House and Senate members, particularly those on the Senate Finance Committee.
Senate HELP Committee looks forward on key nominations, higher education policy
Next week, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) will hold two hearings. On Wednesday morning, the Committee will hold a hearing on “the troubling state of higher education.” Witnesses have not yet been announced, but Chair Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) will likely use the hearing to outline his key higher education priorities that may or may not align with provisions included in the House Education and Workforce Committee’s reconciliation bill.
On Thursday, the HELP Committee will consider key Trump Administration appointees for the Departments of Education and Labor, including Henry Mack III’s nomination to serve as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training, Kevin O’Farrell’s nomination to serve as Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the Department of Education, and Nicholas Kent’s nomination to serve as Under Secretary of Education – the federal government’s top higher education policy role. The time for this work session has not yet been announced.