Every three months for the past year, Congress has approved a bill to temporarily extend the Higher Education Act. Tonight, lawmakers did something a little different: On a voice vote, the House of Representatives approved a nine-month extension.
The law, which governs most federal student-aid programs, had been set to expire on Saturday. The Senate is expected to approve the extension bill (HR 6138) this week and send it to President Bush.
The House passed HR 609—its bill to renew, or reauthorize, the law—in March (The Chronicle, March 31), but the Senate is still debating its reauthorization measure (S 1614).
The latest extension—until June 30, 2007—suggests that lawmakers do not expect to complete their work to revise and reauthorize the law this year. Congress will recess at the end of this week, then reconvene in a lame-duck session after the November election.
