December 17, 2021
Congress Passes Resolution Raising the Debt Limit
Earlier this week, on Tuesday December 14, 2022, the Senate passed S.J. Res. 33, Debt Limit Increase by a vote of 50-49. Later that evening, the House of Representatives passed the same resolution by a vote of 221-209. The limit increase of $2.5 trillion frees up Congress from having to address the debt limit issue until about 2023.
Senate HELP Committee Releases Build Back Better Legislative Text
Earlier this week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee released its legislative text for the Build Back Better Act. The reconciliation bill text released by the Senate is slightly different than the education funding provisions passed by the House (HR 5376).
Funding for Completion Grants, Pell Grants, CTE, and Institutional Aid for HBCUs, TCCUs, and MSIs remained the in the Senate bill as in the House-passed bill. The major distinction in funding was a $5 million decrease to the Community College and Industry Partnership Grants (from $5 billion to $4.995 billion). For more information on how the House-passed bill will impact community colleges and students, you can check out ACCT’s fact sheet here.
The Senate text now has to go through a process called “Byrd Bath” where Democratic and Republican Senators make their case in front of the parliamentarian on whether specific provisions pass the "Byrd rule" and are allowed to stay in the bill.
With a lack of consensus among all 50 Democratic Senators on passage of the Build Back Better Act, we expect the bill will not move in the Chamber until 2022.
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