News from DC about Perkins, Budget, and DOL/DOE Merger

Senate Mark-up on Perkins on June 26

The Senate HELP Committee will markup a bipartisan Perkins Career and Technical Education bill on Tuesday, June 26th at 2:30 in 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Click here to view the session.

A bipartisan agreement has been reached on a Senate bill that would update the main federal law governing career and technical education. If passed by the Senate, it would mark a major step toward the law’s first significant overhaul in more than a decade.

The bill to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act has been eagerly awaited since Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander said the committee would vote on it. Alexander had asked Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) to negotiate an agreement, which they’ve been doing behind the scenes. The coming together on a bill signals the two sides have worked out their differences. 

Last year, the House passed a bill, H.R. 2353 (115), on a voice vote, to overhaul the law. But it’s lingered in the Senate, where Alexander (R-Tenn.) has long pushed to further curtail the Education secretary’s authority under the law. 

The federal government spends about $1 billion each year on career and technical education programs for secondary and post-secondary programs under the law. The business and education communities, along with many governors, have encouraged an upgrade to the law, last updated in 2006. 

FY 2019 Budget Mark-up on June 26

House full Appropriations Committee and Senate Subcommittee markups are Tuesday, June 26th at 10am and 11am, respectively, You can find the final version of CIAW coalition FY2019 Budget on the CIAW website here.

White House proposes to merge the U.S. DOL and U.S. Department of ED

The White House unveiled a plan Thursday to merge the Education and Labor departments into a single Cabinet agency: the Department of Education and the Workforce. Learn more