December 2013
House action on the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA)—which reauthorizes the Institute of Education Sciences (IES)—came to a standstill at the beginning of December.
According to reports, Republicans and Democrats on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce agreed on many aspects of the reauthorization draft. However, House leadership opposed the spending levels authorized for IES.
The House has been working on the ESRA reauthorization since the committee held a hearing on IES in September. Although committee staff is optimistic that work on the bill will continue next year, it is unclear whether it will continue after appropriations issues are settled in January for FY2014. The Senate has not yet taken any action on ESRA.