Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations Updates
On July 15, the House Appropriations Committee approved the FY 2022 Labor-HHS-Education (Labor-HHS-ED) spending bill by a vote of 33-25. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would receive $49.4 billion, $3 billion of which would be made available for the proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) initiative. The Department of Education would receive $102.8 billion in funding, and federal student aid eligibility would expand to include undocumented students who are protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The bill also provides $3.43 billion for higher education programs. Among the recipient programs, Title VI programs would receive $79.4 million; the Fulbright Hays program would receive $13.8 million; and Federal Work Study would receive $1.43 billion. Additionally, the bill would provide $102.3 million for the Strengthening Historically Black Graduate Institutions Program. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) would receive $7.5 billion, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would receive $10.6 billion, an increase of $2.7 billion or 35 percent above the FY 2021 enacted level.
Also, on July 15, the House Appropriations Committee passed the FY22 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) funding bill, which would provide $9.6 billion for the National Science Foundation. During the week of July 26, both the Labor-HHS-ED and CJS bills are expected to be considered on the House floor in a seven-bill package, according to a Dear Colleague Letter released by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) on July 15.
Department of Education Releases Title IX Guidance
The blog post also includes a transcript of the five-day virtual hearings the department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) held on Title IX in June 2020. Among the topics discussed in the public hearings, stakeholders testified on the department’s role in ensuring that schools provide a fair and equitable resolution to reports of sex discrimination and fairly address discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Following a June 16 notice from OCR that protects students from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity under Title IX, the department released a resource guide that provides examples of the types of cases that would be under OCR jurisdiction. The resource guide references the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division’s March 2020 memorandum that says sexual orientation and gender identity are protected under Title IX regulations.
USCIS Releases New Guidance on Changes for F-1 Visa Filing
CGS continues to monitor and advocate for updated guidance and processes for international students’ and scholars’ return to campuses in fall 2021. On July 20, CGS joined a community letter to the Department of State regarding the current travel restrictions due to COVID-19 and seeking clarification on the national interest exemption (NIE).
Texas Court Decision on DACA
CGS members can leverage an advocacy toolkit for institutions from one of our partners in Washington, the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration as well as a CGS policy brief that reviews the impact DACA has on higher education, the legal challenges the program has faced, and a call to action for a legislative solution protecting the program. The Council continues to advocate for a legislative solution to fortify and protect DACA.