{"id":6869,"date":"2025-05-16T08:55:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T13:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/?p=6869"},"modified":"2025-05-15T08:55:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T13:55:39","slug":"may-16-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/2025\/05\/16\/may-16-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"May 16, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Congressional Updates<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This week, throughout various committees in the House of Representatives, the chamber continued to advance reconciliation proposals as directed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/house-concurrent-resolution\/14?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22h.con.res.14%22%7D&amp;s=1&amp;r=1\">H.Con.Res.14<\/a>, the FY25 Concurrent Budget Resolution. The House <a href=\"https:\/\/energycommerce.house.gov\/events\/full-committee-markup-of-budget-reconciliation-text\">Energy and Commerce<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/waysandmeans.house.gov\/event\/full-committee-markup-of-legislative-proposals-to-comply-with-the-reconciliation-directive-included-in-section-2001-of-the-concurrent-resolution-on-the-budget-for-fiscal-year-2025-h-con-res-14\/\">Ways and Means<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/agriculture.house.gov\/calendar\/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=7902\">Agriculture<\/a> Committee websites contain additional information on these pieces, and in the coming days, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the full package before it will be sent to the Senate for further consideration, alteration, and additional votes. Importantly, the Universities of Wisconsin continue to engage with Members of Congress \u2013 including the Wisconsin Congressional Delegation \u2013 and through our national associations on issues of importance and concern to our universities across these proposals. Further updates continue to be shared with designated university legislative liaisons, who are engaged in similar efforts both state and federally as appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>In the background of these developments, next week several House and Senate committees will hold hearings related to higher education.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Senate HELP Committee Hearing<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">On May 21<span style=\"font-size: 10.5px\">,<\/span> beginning at 9:00 a.m. Central Time, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee will hold a hearing titled, \u201cThe State of Higher Education.\u201d For more details, including a link to watch live, you can review the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.help.senate.gov\/rep\/newsroom\/press\/next-week-senate-help-committee-to-hold-hearing-on-state-of-higher-education-1\">Committee&#8217;s press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">On May 21<span style=\"font-size: 10.5px\">,<\/span> beginning at 9:15 a.m. Central Time, the Committee on Education and Workforce\u2019s Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development will hold a hearing titled, \u201cRestoring Excellence: The Case Against DEI.\u201d For more details, including a link to watch live, you can review the <a href=\"https:\/\/edworkforce.house.gov\/calendar\/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=412451\">Committee&#8217;s hearing page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>House Appropriations Committee Hearing<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">On May 21, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Central time, the House Appropriations Committee will hold a budget hearing on the Department of Education. For more details, including a link to watch Secretary McMahon testify live, you can review the <a href=\"https:\/\/appropriations.house.gov\/schedule\/hearings\/budget-hearing-us-department-education\">Committee&#8217;s hearing page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Political Activity Guidance Reminder<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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 activities at any time or engaging in political activities during work time are prohibited.<\/p>\n<p>In your capacity as private citizens, on non-work time, and without use of university resources (including the use of university email addresses) employees may circulate or sign a petition or letter of support advocating for public policy or a political candidate. However, if using your name and official title, it should be made clear that an individual\u2019s endorsement indicates neither support nor endorsement by the university of a particular policy position or candidate, and that you are acting solely in your role as a private citizen.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, you can read the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/guidance-on-political-campaign-activities-at-university-of-wisconsin-system-institutions\/\">Guidance on Political Activities Frequently Asked Questions<\/a>\u00a0document. Importantly, these FAQs should be treated as general guidelines and not legal advice.<\/p>\n<p>Please direct specific questions regarding political campaign issues to the Office of General Counsel or your university\u2019s Office of Legal Affairs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recent Federal Actions<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Department of Energy: <a style=\"background-color: #ffffff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/articles\/energy-department-aligns-award-criteria-profit-non-profit-organizations-and-state-and\">Energy Department Aligns Award Criteria for For-profit, Non-profit Organizations, and State and Local Governments, Saving $935 Million Annually<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Department of Education: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ed.gov\/about\/news\/press-release\/us-department-of-education-celebrates-president-trumps-nominee-assistant-secretary-postsecondary-education\">U.S. Department of Education Celebrates President Trump\u2019s Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Department of Education: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ed.gov\/about\/news\/press-release\/joint-task-force-combat-anti-semitism-statement-additional-harvard-actions\">Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism Statement on Additional Harvard Actions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>UWs Litigation Update<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The UWs Office of General Counsel, the Office of Legal Affairs at UW-Madison, and the Office of Legal Affairs at UW-Milwaukee have worked with state partners to pursue legal challenges to some of these terminations and the dismantling of certain federal agencies. Read more and review the lawsuits and submitted declarations on the <a style=\"background-color: #ffffff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/2025\/05\/09\/universities-of-wisconsin-litigation-update\/\">Universities of Wisconsin Litigation Update<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congressional Updates This week, throughout various committees in the House of Representatives, the chamber continued to advance reconciliation proposals as directed by H.Con.Res.14, the FY25 Concurrent Budget Resolution. The House Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Agriculture Committee websites contain additional information on these pieces, and in the coming days, the House of Representatives [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2368,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fed-friday-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2368"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6870,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6869\/revisions\/6870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}