The U.S. House of Representatives this afternoon approved a sweeping piece of legislation that would set federal higher-education policy for the next six years, but not before significantly softening, and even eliminating, several key provisions that college leaders and lobbyists had fought vigorously.
The bill to renew the Higher Education Act, which Congress has been working on for three years, was approved by the House on a mostly party-line vote, 221 to 199. Republican leaders in the Senate hope to bring their version of the bill to the Senate floor this spring.
The House vote on the bill, HR 609, followed votes on a series of amendments on Wednesday (The Chronicle, March 30) and today. The path to passage was smoothed when the bill’s chief sponsors dropped two controversial provisions on Tuesday (The Chronicle, March 29) and took other steps today.
More details on the bill’s final form, as voted, will appear tomorrow on this Web site.
