The Weekly Update Archive: Fed Friday Updates

August 8, 2025

White House Orders on Grantmaking and Admissions On August 7, President Trump acted on issues related to oversight of federal grantmaking and admissions practices at institutions of higher education. The Universities of Wisconsin continue to review these orders and will share relevant updates with university stakeholders as appropriate.  Should you wish to review the documents, […]

August 1, 2025

Senate Appropriations Committee Markup On July 31, the Senate Appropriations Committee held a markup of the Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Acts. You can watch the archived markup at the preceding link and review the FY26 LHHS Bill Summary. The legislative text and committee report will also be posted on […]

July 25, 2025

Political Activity Guidance Reminder As a reminder, as uncertainty continues around the emerging federal landscape, Universities of Wisconsin employees should be mindful of political activity and public advocacy guidelines. Activities such as sharing a petition or contacting a legislator for political purposes using your university email address or state resources to engage in political campaign […]

July 18, 2025

This has been a light week legislatively on issues we are monitoring, so we do not have any updates to share this week. Recent Federal Actions Department of Education: Secretary McMahon Statement on Supreme Court Victory for Future of American Education Department of Education: U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Labor Implement Workforce […]

July 11, 2025

Reconciliation Update On July 1, the Senate passed H.R.1, which provides for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H.Con.Res. 14 with an amendment via a vote of 51-50. Vice President Vance cast the tiebreaking vote. Following further consideration, on July 3, the House of Representatives agreed to the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1 via a vote of 218-214.  The […]

July 2, 2025

Reconciliation Updates On July 1, the Senate passed H.R.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act with an amendment via a vote of 51-50. Vice President Vance cast the tiebreaking vote. The legislation was sent back to the House of Representatives where debate is ongoing. As of mid-morning July 2nd, the House of Representatives is expected […]

June 27, 2025

Reconciliation Updates Over the past week, the Senate Parliamentarian reviewed H.R.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act against the Senate’s “Byrd Rule”.  As revealed by the Senate Budget Committee’s Ranking Member several provisions appear to violate the rule, which – if interested – you can read the Ranking Member’s press releases. As these provisions are […]

June 20, 2025

Department of Defense Indirect Cost Rate Late last week, the Department of Defense (DoD) sought to implement the agency’s earlier memorandum regarding the implementation of a 15% indirect cost cap. On June 16, the Association of American Universities, the American Council on Education, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and several institutions filed a […]

June 13, 2025

Letter from President Rothman to Congressional Delegation on Federal Budget Impact Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman sent a letter to Wisconsin’s congressional delegation expressing concern related to the proposed cuts to federal financial aid and federal research agencies contained within President Trump’s FY26 Discretionary Budget Request. The letter asks for Congress to keep these concerns in […]

June 6, 2025

Board of Regents Meeting Update At the June meeting of the Board of Regents, President Rothman shared his concerns related to the impacts of proposed changes to federal financial aid being discussed in Congress. He was joined by several UW-Milwaukee students who spoke directly to the importance of the Pell Grant as they pursue their […]