Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Reconciliation Bill Summary

Earlier today, the Senate voted 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote, to approve a revised version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) (H.R. 1). This concluded a vote-a-rama that began the morning of June 30 and lasted over 24 hours. Senators considered 48 amendments and approved two amendments via voice vote, and one motion and three amendments via roll call vote. None of the amendments considered or passed impacted the higher education provisions in the bill. The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. today to consider the Senate-passed bill, and floor votes may begin as early as 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Last Friday, June 27, the Senate Budget Committee released updated bill text for OBBBA, including updated Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee text, an updated section-by-section summary and an updated one-pager. The updated text follows numerous rulings by the Senate parliamentarian that struck down higher education provisions, which then had to be updated to bring them into compliance with the Byrd Rule. This includes the new student loan repayment plan, Workforce Pell grants and accountability measures, among others. The HELP Committee provisions passed today remain identical to those released on Friday.

A detailed breakdown of the differences between the original and revised Senate HELP Committee text can be found in the linked alert here.

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