Key higher ed provisions in reconciliation bill violate Senate rules, official finds

官方发现，和解法案中主要的较高ed条款违反了参议院规则

Several higher education-related provisions of what Republicans have dubbed the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” violate the rules of the reconciliation process and should be subject to a 60-vote majority to pass, the chamber’s parliamentarian found Thursday.

众议院议员周四发现，共和党人称之为 “一个大而美丽的法案” 的几项与高等教育相关的条款违反了和解进程的规则，应该以60票的多数票通过。

Democrats on the budget committee shared the findings in a news release the same day. Although Republicans could bypass the findings, the parliamentarian’s conclusions could deal a blow to those provisions given the political cost of violating Senate rules.

预算委员会的民主党人在同一天的新闻稿中分享了调查结果。尽管共和党人可以绕过调查结果，但鉴于违反参议院规则的政治代价，国会议员的结论可能会对这些规定造成打击。

The reconciliation process allows the Senate to bypass the filibuster, which takes 60 votes to overcome, for budget-related bills tied to federal spending and revenue. Per what’s known as the “Byrd Rule,” which goes back to the 1980s, reconciliation bills aren’t supposed to increase the federal deficit beyond the budget window, and must change spending or revenue.

和解程序使参议院可以绕过与联邦支出和收入相关的预算相关法案，而后者需要60票才能克服。根据所谓的 “伯德规则”，可以追溯到20世纪80年代，和解法案不应该将联邦赤字增加到预算窗口之外，并且必须改变支出或收入。

The higher ed provisions in the bill found to violate Senate rules include:

法案中被发现违反参议院规则的较高ed条款包括:

An expansion of the Pell Grant program that would allow the federal aid to be used for short-term programs — between eight and 15 weeks — including those run by unaccredited operators.

Pell Grant计划的扩展将允许联邦援助用于短期计划-8至15周-包括由未经认可的运营商运营的计划。

An overhaul of the student loan repayment plans that would sweep away many existing options, leaving only a standard plan with fixed payments and an income-based repayment plan.

对学生贷款还款计划的全面改革将扫除许多现有的选择，只剩下固定付款的标准计划和基于收入的还款计划。

Ending federal aid eligibility for some non-citizen students.

终止一些非公民学生的联邦援助资格。

A handful of provisions are still under review by the Senate parliamentarian to determine if they would violate the reconciliation process:

参议院议员仍在审查少数条款，以确定它们是否会违反和解程序:

A repeal of the Biden administration’s version of the borrower defense to repayment and closed school discharge regulations, which have been blocked by an appellate court and are being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The rules provide debt relief to students misled by colleges or whose institutions closed before they could finish.

废除拜登政府版本的借款人还款辩护和关闭学校出院规定，该规定已被上诉法院阻止，并正在接受美国最高法院的审查。该规则为被大学误导或其机构在完成之前关闭的学生提供债务减免。

A restriction on the U.S. education secretary from issuing “economically significant” regulations, defined as a rule that would affect at least $100 million annually or have an adverse impact on the economy.

限制美国教育部长发布 “具有经济意义” 的法规，定义为每年至少影响10000万美元或对经济产生不利影响的规则。

Several other pieces of the bill unrelated to education have been flagged as well.

该法案中与教育无关的其他几项也被标记出来。

The Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, acts as a nonpartisan, nonmember adviser to the legislative body. Parliamentarians’ determinations, including on whether reconciliation bills adhere to the Byrd rule, are generally given strong weight but are not binding.

参议院议员Elizabeth MacDonough是立法机构的无党派，非成员顾问。议员们的决定，包括关于和解法案是否遵守伯德规则的决定，通常受到重视，但没有约束力。

“The Byrd Rule must be enforced, and Republicans shouldn’t get away with circumventing the rules of reconciliation,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat and ranking member of the Senate budget committee, said in a statement Thursday.

“伯德规则必须得到执行，共和党人不应该绕过和解规则，” 民主党参议员杰夫·默克利 (Jeff Merkley) 周四在一份声明中表示。

President Donald Trump has called for passage of a reconciliation bill by July 4. However, the Senate’s reconciliation proposals differ on many key areas from the House’s bill, including on their respective higher education agendas. That adds difficulty to Republicans’ efforts to pass a package in both chambers, with the party controlling each by only thin majorities.

唐纳德·特朗普总统呼吁7月4日通过和解法案。然而，参议院的和解提案在许多关键领域与众议院的法案不同，包括各自的高等教育议程。这增加了共和党在两院通过一揽子计划的努力的难度，而该党仅由多数席位控制。

For example, while both versions would eliminate GRAD Plus loans and revamp the student loan repayment system, the Senate version includes a much smaller increase to the endowment tax and ditches a complicated risk-sharing proposal included in the House version that would put colleges on the hook for unpaid student loans.

例如，虽然这两个版本都将取消GRAD Plus贷款并修改学生贷款偿还系统，但参议院版本对捐赠税的增加幅度要小得多，并放弃了众议院版本中包含的一项复杂的风险分担提案，该提案将使大学陷入困境。

Many higher education groups and advocates have raised alarms about both versions, saying they would restrict college access and harm many institutions as well as lower-income students.

许多高等教育团体和倡导者都对这两个版本提出了警告，称它们将限制大学入学，并损害许多机构以及低收入学生。