ACTE’s Public Policy Department heard from Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson for this edition of Policymaker Perspectives. Rep. Thompson represents Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District, and he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2008. He is currently serving his fifth term as a co-chair of the House Career and... Continue reading

This week in Washington was a quiet one for CTE-related policy items. Congress is in recess until next month, but the FY24 appropriations process will continue once lawmakers return during the first two weeks of September. There will be much appropriations work to be done when they return in order... Continue reading

On July 27, the Senate Appropriations Committee considered and approved its Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill on a bi-partisan basis, which contains a $40 million increase to the Perkins Basic State Grant program, and provides significantly more resources to education and workforce development programs than the House version... Continue reading

This was a very busy week for federal action on CTE-related policy, with Congress finishing its final week in town before the August recess. The House Appropriations Committee approved one FY 24 veterans’ affairs funding bill, while the Senate Appropriations Committee completed consideration of all 12 of its funding bills... Continue reading

On July 26, the Department of Education (ED) hosted the National Summit on Equal Opportunity in Higher Education to discuss strategies and resources to expand access to postsecondary education opportunities following the recent Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action. At the event, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced a $45... Continue reading

This week, Congress was primarily focused on continuing the FY 2024 appropriations process. The House and Senate considered several additional FY 2024 appropriations bills at the Committee level, and the House scheduled several appropriations bills to be placed on the floor next week as the Senate continued work on the... Continue reading

On July 14, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies approved its Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 appropriations bill on a party-line vote. In some good news for CTE, the Perkins Basic State Grant is level funded in this bill. However, the bill reduces... Continue reading

ACTE is re-launching our Policymaker Perspectives discussion series! In this first Policymaker Perspectives of 2023, ACTE’s Public Policy Department recently heard from Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), who represents Oregon’s First Congressional District. Rep. Bonamici joined the Congressional Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus as the lead Democratic co-chair in the... Continue reading

As Members of Congress returned to Washington this week, their focus was on the FY 24 appropriations process and the reauthorization of the National Defense Authorization Act. For CTE stakeholders, the biggest news was the House’s appropriations subcommittee markup of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services... Continue reading

Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill, including funding for education and workforce development programs. The bill was approved by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies earlier today on... Continue reading

This week in Washington was another quiet week for federal policy with the Independence Day holiday. Congress is out of town until July 10, when they will return to continue work on fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills and other key legislation. Neither the House nor the Senate Appropriations Committee has... Continue reading

This week in Washington was a quiet week for federal policy, with Congress in recess for the Independence Day holiday until July 10. The biggest news this week was focused on Supreme Court rulings, several of which will impact higher education admissions and federal student loan forgiveness. When Congress returns,... Continue reading

This week in Washington, Congress was focused on moving several pending nominations and moving forward with the FY 24 appropriations process. The House Appropriations Committee held markups of several appropriations bills and approved overall committee allocations, while Senate appropriations leaders have begun preparing a few bills for full committee markup... Continue reading

Earlier this week, House leaders announced that instead of allocating the amount of funding agreed to in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 for FY 2024 appropriations bills, which would have essentially provided level funding to domestic programs, they would write appropriations bills to the lower FY 2022 level requested... Continue reading

Following last week’s deal to lift the federal debt limit, Congress is beginning to shift focus back to FY 2024 appropriations bills. The House Appropriations Committee is expected to begin markups next week of several appropriations bills that were marked up by subcommittees prior to completion of the debt limit... Continue reading

On June 7, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su testified before the House Education and Workforce Committee on Department of Labor FY 2024 policies and priorities. During the hearing, there was substantial discussion of the opportunities available to support workforce development through registered apprenticeships, secondary and postsecondary CTE programs and... Continue reading

This week in Washington, Congress was focused on final negotiations to complete a deal to raise the federal debt limit before a potential government default. The final bill passed the House on May 31 and the Senate on June 1. After President Biden signs the legislation today, the focus will... Continue reading

On May 11, two bills to support recruitment and retention of the educator workforce were introduced in Congress – the Respect, Advancement, and Increasing Support for Educators Act, or RAISE Act, and the Retaining Educators Takes Added Investment Now (RETAIN) Act. ACTE has endorsed both pieces of legislation. The RAISE... Continue reading

The primary focus in Washington this week was negotiations between President Biden and bipartisan congressional leadership meetings to tackle the debt ceiling impasse. In addition, preparation for Farm Bill reauthorization began with bi-partisan meetings at the White House, and hearings were held on appropriations and WIOA reauthorization. Both chambers will... Continue reading

On May 11, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development held a hearing titled “Examining America’s Workforce Challenges: Looking for Ways to Improve Skills Development.” The hearing focused primarily on potential reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which was... Continue reading

Congress has made little progress in reaching a deal to extend the national debt limit and avoid default on the federal debt. Financial experts have suggested that the debt limit could be reached as early as June 1, leaving little time for negotiations. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) recently noted that... Continue reading

While both chambers of Congress were in session this week, only a few votes were held. The House did vote on the Republican debt limit package, the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 (H.R. 2811), and it passed on a party-line vote of 217-215. The package proposes significant cuts to... Continue reading

On April 26, the House Committee on Small Business’s Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development held a hearing titled “Help Wanted: Exploring How Alternative Paths to Student Debt Can Help to Strengthen Small Business,” featuring workforce development advocates that discussed a variety of career opportunities for students, , and... Continue reading

Congress returned from recess on Monday, April 17, and most of their focus was on appropriations hearings, judicial nomination issues and congressional Republicans’ debt ceiling proposal, which you can read more about below. Both chambers will be back in session next week as well, where the House in particular is... Continue reading

On April 21, ACTE and Advance CTE announced that Sen. Ted Budd will become the new co-chair of the bipartisan Senate CTE Caucus! He will be taking the place of former Sen. Rob Portman, who retired at the end of last Congress. He had helped to lead the Senate CTE... Continue reading