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The University of Texas System Office of Federal Relations - News
News updates from federal agencies and congressional activity relevant to the UT System higher education community.
- Debt-Financing Option May Increase Bankruptcy Risk for Some Colleges
Chronicle of Higher Education - A common type of variable-rate financing has suddenly become a bankruptcy threat to an unknown number of colleges, most of them not well off, the top higher-education analysts at the nation’s two major credit-rating agencies said on Friday. - Houston, We Have a Tax Cut
Inside Higher Ed - Times are tough all over and many colleges are looking to get every penny they can. But, thanks to the actions of a Texas community college district, taxpayers in Houston are catching a small break. - Another Student Loan Company Settles With New York
New York Times - Goal Financial is the latest student loan company to have reached a settlement agreement with the New York attorney general, whose investigation of the loan industry found that some were using deceptive tactics and offering prizes to attract borrowers. - Pentagon Expects Cuts in Military Spending
New York Times - WASHINGTON — After years of unfettered growth in military budgets, Defense Department planners, top commanders and weapons manufacturers now say they are almost certain that the financial meltdown will have a serious impact on future Pentagon spending. - FY2009 Appropriations for State and Local Homeland Security
CRS - Congress appropriated, in P.L. 110-329, approximately $4.36 billion for state and local homeland security assistance programs. This is approximately $135 million more than was appropriated in FY2008 ($4.22 billion). Congress chose not to fund the Real ID program in FY2009, however, it did appropriate funding ($2 million) for a new assistance program titled the Center for Counterterrorism and Cyber Crime at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. This report will not be updated. This report is an overview of the FY2009 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) programs for states and localities that are designed to provide assistance to state and local governments. The assistance is primarily used by first responders, which include firefighters, emergency medical personnel, emergency managers, and law enforcement officers. The Office of Grant Programs within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for facilitating and coordinating DHS state and local assistance programs. The office administers formula and discretionary grant programs to further state and local homeland security capabilities. As a result of the reorganization mandated by the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-295), the work of the Office of Grant Programs was separated from FEMA training activities. FEMA's National Integration Center within the agency's National Preparedness Directorate administers training, exercises, and technical assistance for states and localities. In FY2009, DHS's assistance programs for states and localities include: - Critical Infrastructures: Background, Policy, and Implementation
CRS - The nation's health, wealth, and security rely on the production and distribution of certain goods and services. The array of physical assets, functions, and systems across which these goods and services move are called critical infrastructures (e.g., electricity, the power plants that generate it, and the electric grid upon which it is distributed). The national security community has been concerned for sometime about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to both physical and cyber attack. In May 1998, President Clinton released Presidential Decision Directive No. 63. The Directive set up groups within the federal government to develop and implement plans that would protect government-operated infrastructures and called for a dialogue between government and the private sector to develop a National Infrastructure Assurance Plan that would protect all of the nation's critical infrastructures by the year 2003. While the Directive called for both physical and cyber protection from both manmade and natural events, implementation focused on cyber protection against manmade cyber events (i.e., computer hackers). However, given the physical damage caused by the September 11 attacks, physical protections of critical infrastructures has received increased attention. Following the events of September 11, the Bush Administration released Executive Order 13228, signed October 8, 2001, establishing the Office of Homeland Security. Among its duties, the Office shall "coordinate efforts to protect the United States and its critical infrastructure from the consequences of terrorist attacks." In November 2002, Congress passed legislation creating a Department of Homeland Security. Among its responsibilities is overall coordination of critical infrastructure protection activities. In December 2003, the Bush Administration released Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7, reiterating and expanding upon infrastructure protection policy and responsibilities. In June 2006, the Bush Administration released a National Infrastructure Protection Plan. This Plan presents the process by which the Department of Homeland Security intends to identify those specific assets most critical to the United States, across all sectors, based on the risk associated with their loss to attack or natural disaster, and then to prioritize activities aimed at maximizing the reduction of those risks for a given investment. This report discusses in more detail the evolution of a national critical infrastructure policy and the institutional structures established to implement it. The report highlights five issues of Congressional concern: identifying critical assets; assessing vulnerabilities and risks; allocating resources; information sharing; and, regulation. This report will be updated. - The America COMPETES Act and the FY2009 Budget
CRS - The America COMPETES Act (P.L. 110-69) responds to concerns that the United States may not be able to compete economically with other nations in the future due to insufficient investment today in science and engineering research and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. A similar concern led President Bush to announce the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) in January 2006. FY2008 appropriations met neither the Administration's ACI target nor America COMPETES Act authorized levels. An issue for Congress is whether FY2009 appropriations will. The Presidents's Office of Science and Technology Policy reports that the FY2009 budget request includes funding for America COMPETES Act initiatives at 88% of the FY2009 authorization level. In June 2008, the House and Senate approved the Concurrent Budget Resolution Conference Report (S.Con.Res. 70), which provides a sense of the Congress on the America COMPETES Act, stating "the Congress should provide sufficient funding so that our Nation may continue to be the world leader in education, innovation and economic growth." For FY2009, the federal agencies that manage America COMPETES Act programs are funded through an interim continuing resolution until March 6, 2009. Funding for the remainder of FY2009 and all of FY2010 remains to be determined. The act authorizes increases in the nation's investment in science and engineering research at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories, and the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. Both the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations recommended funding for NSF authorized at $7.3 billion, while $6.9 billion was requested by the Administration. For NIST, both the Senate and House committees provided funding for programs the Administration requested eliminated, the Technology Innovation Program (TIP), and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). The DOE Office of Science authorized level is $5.2 billion. The President requested $4.7 billion. The Senate committee reported $4.6 billion, and the House committee reported $4.8 billion. The act also establishes within DOE the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), designed to support transformational energy technology research projects. The President's FY2009 budget does not request appropriations for ARPA-E. The House committee recommended $15 million for ARPA-E, while the Senate committee did not include any funding in its report. In STEM education, the act authorizes Department of Education (ED) and NSF programs to encourage STEM degree majors and professionals to become K-12 STEM teachers. At ED, the Administration requests the elimination of the act's Teachers for a Competitive Tomorrow program authorized at 151.2 million. The Senate committee included $2 million for this program, while the House subcommittee did not fund the program. At NSF, the America COMPETES Act increased the authorization level for the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program to 115.0 million. The Administration requested funding of $11.6 million for this program. The Senate committee recommended $55 million in its report, and the House committee $50 million.