Faith leaders representing Jewish, Catholic, Evangelical organizations say BBB must pass    ***Download Video of Press Conference HERE***   (Washington, D.C.) – ICYMI, yesterday, a broad coalition of faith groups joined U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) to call on Congress to...

Yesterday, Senate Democrats and Republicans on the HELP Committee voted to advance eight bills out of committee to address health challenges families and communities face   Murray: “These eight bills are a testament to what’s possible when we focus on bipartisan, common sense solutions.”    Murray: “I hope we...

Airline travel is stressful under even the best circumstances. But for too many passengers, it’s the source of something more traumatic than long lines and a lack of legroom. This year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened 58 investigations into in-flight sexual assault allegations on commercial aircraft. But these investigations...

The Department of Education is resetting the clock on Pell grant eligibility for students who burned through the federal aid to cover costs at colleges that closed, a move that will help tens of thousands of people complete their education at another school. Pell, a form of federal financial aid for families typically earning less than $60,000 a...

The Department of Veterans Affairs will begin covering costs for in vitro fertilization and adoptions for combat-wounded veterans struggling with infertility because of their injuries, giving thousands of young veteran families fresh hope at starting a family, advocates say. President Obama signed a bill last week that allows the agency to pay the...

After nearly seven months of bickering and finger-pointing, Congress on Wednesday agreed to allocate $1.1 billion to help fight the spread and effects of the Zika virus. The deal is part of a broader agreement to continue to fund the government after the fiscal year ends on Friday and the current budget expires. It brings to an end a partisan fight...

By: Travis Waldron Huffington Post Two U.S. senators on Wednesday renewed their efforts to scrutinize why players on the U.S. women’s national soccer team earn less than their male counterparts, just hours before the USWNT begins its run at a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal.  “We remain focused on the pressing issue of pay...

By: Lauren Camera US News With No Child Left Behind in the rear view mirror and waivers a thing of the past, states are embarking on a new era of school accountability under the new education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act. And as they get to work using their newfound flexibility to create a more personalized system of checks and balances,...

By: Joe Heim Washington Post With millions of students across the United States set to begin returning to school in coming weeks, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance Wednesday for states and school districts on how to respond to the specific needs of homeless students. The guidelines, provided in response to new provisions in the...

Politico House and Senate Democrats today urged the Department of Veterans Affairs to step up oversight of for-profit colleges that enroll students under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and 26 other Senate Democrats wrote VA Secretary Robert McDonald, demanding the agency “do more to hold...

By: Danielle Douglas-Gabriel Washington Post The Education Department is revising the federal financial aid application to make it easier for homeless college students to access loans and grants, in response to requests from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP)...

By: Katherine Long  Seattle Times New bipartisan legislation would allow students who get federal financial aid for college to use the grants for summer school, which could help them finish a college degree faster. A bill to allow students to get federal Pell Grants for summer school passed through the Senate’s appropriations committee...

By: Andrew Ujifusa Education Week  The top two Democrats in Congress for K-12 education issues are telling President Barack Obama's administration: Make sure you take care of the new grants for preschool under the Every Student Succeeds Act. In a letter to Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. and Secretary of Health and Human Services...

By: Danielle Douglas-Gabriel  Washington Post Students will have a clearer path to loan forgiveness if they are defrauded or misled by their colleges, according to rules issued Monday by the Obama administration, which also create a financial backstop to ensure that schools, not taxpayers, are responsible for the debt. “The Obama...

By: Alyson Klein Education Week  The Every Student Succeeds Act is officially six months old Friday. Politics K-12's Alyson Klein sat down separately with all four of ESSA's key architects in Congress to talk about the development of the law, the successor to the No Child Left Behind Act, and its future. This interview, with Sen. Patty Murray...

By: Sabrina Rodriguez Politico The Senate Appropriations Committee today advanced a bipartisan Labor-Health and Human Services-Education spending bill that would restore year-round Pell Grants, but also redirects some of the program's surplus funding away from student aid. Senators overwhelmingly showed support for the bill in a 29-1 vote to report...

By: Carol Garnick Puget Sound Business Journal  U.S. Sen. Patty Murray says she has nailed down a bipartisan deal to boost funding for the National Institutes of Health next year by $2 billion. Because Washington state ranks No. 8 in the nation for the amount of NIH funding it receives, a $2 billion increase could mean a significant bump in...

By: Dylan Scott STAT News WASHINGTON — A key Senate panel approved a health funding bill Tuesday that would nearly double the federal support for fighting the nation’s opioid epidemic. The 2017 funding bill unveiled by Senators Roy Blunt of Missouri and Patty Murray of Washington, who head the subcommittee that oversees health spending,...

By: Joe Davidson Washington Post While the path from kindergarten through college can be tough for anyone, two government reports released this month outline the particular difficulties facing poor black and Hispanic students, as well as the higher education hurdles confronting homeless and foster youth. One Government Accountability Office (GAO)...

By: Kate Gibson  CBS News There's an inside joke among meat industry workers about the risks they face in the slaughter trade: Who is killing whom -- are we killing cattle, or are they killing us on the processing line? That bit of dark humor was relayed by Jose Gaytan, a former meatpacking worker from Nebraska, who spoke at a telephone press...