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A House bill introduced Feb. 16 would prohibit the U.S. Department of Labor from moving forward with its proposed rule updating the minimum salary threshold for determining overtime eligibility under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under the bill, introduced by Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., the Secretary of Labor would be prohibited from finalizing, implementing or enforcing the overtime rule proposal. In a press release, Burlison said the bill would “ensure that businesses can manage overtime compensation in a way that benefits both business and employees.” DOL last August proposed to raise the overtime eligibility threshold to $55,068 per year, up from the $35,568 per year mark set in 2019, and it would provide for automatic updates every three years. DOL has slated a final rule for publication in April.

Marty Correia thought she was closer to ridding herself of student debt when in 2022 she learned about President Biden waiving the rules of a loan forgiveness program for public service workers. The administration said that if Correia and others with federal loans held by private companies consolidated into the government’s direct loan portfolio, they could get credit for past payments that didn’t normally qualify for the forgiveness program.

House lawmakers are expected to vote on a bipartisan deal that expands access to Pell Grants for short-term programs. But the bill that will hit the floor has a different pay-for provision than what was proposed in December. The Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act, H.R. 6585 , is one of about a dozen bills that will be taken up for a House vote under suspension in the latter half of this week. The legislation must get a two-thirds majority vote to pass, and the vote will be a test of bipartisan support in the chamber around expanding the use of the grants reserved for the nation’s lowest-income college students.
 

President Joe Biden’s Plan B for broad student debt relief just got one step closer to becoming reality. 
After hours of talks Thursday and Friday, a group of former students, advocates and experts greenlit an Education Department proposal that could forgive student loans for a broad range of struggling borrowers.
The decision comes the same week that Biden forgave more than $1 billion in loans for a separate batch of borrowers, drawing the ire of conservatives in Washington who accused him of trying to “buy votes.” The president says he’s pursuing debt cancellation in every venue he can. 

The federal Pell Grant program will see a significant funding shortfall over the next decade unless changes are made, according to an analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a fiscal policy think tank. Closing the shortfall will require increased federal spending, smaller awards, tighter eligibility rules or a combination of the three, researchers said. They predict benefits would need to be reduced by 10% or funding raised by 12% in order to close the budget gap under their best-case scenario, a $35 million shortfall over the next decade. Many higher education experts have championed expanding the Pell Grant program by doubling the maximum award or expanding eligibility to short-term programs. Although the latter policy is still before Congress, other expansions could be a difficult sell to lawmakers due to the predicted costs.