Oversight and appropriations

Topics

• OBBBA student loan caps take effect, ending Grad PLUS for new borrowers
• Senators ask Fed watchdog to probe Bowman Wall Street dinner

Bills

No direct record in this edition.

Court cases

No direct record in this edition.

Practice questions

• As of July 1, 2026, the federal Grad PLUS Loan Program no longer exists for new graduate borrowers. What was the primary borrowing limit under Grad PLUS before it was eliminated?
• The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) created two separate federal borrowing tiers for graduate students starting July 1, 2026. A student in a master's program in social work and a student in a law school program face different annual caps. What are those caps?
• Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) through the budget reconciliation process, not through regular Senate floor procedure. What is the most important procedural difference between reconciliation and regular Senate legislation?
• During the Senate debate over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) in June and July of 2025, the Senate Parliamentarian struck several student loan provisions from the bill during what is called the "Byrd bath." What does the Byrd Rule prohibit in a reconciliation bill?
• On July 1, 2025, the Senate passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) by a vote of 51 to 50. Three Republican senators voted against the bill: Rand Paul of Kentucky, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Susan Collins of Maine. What role did Vice President JD Vance play in that result?
• The OBBBA loan caps affect a larger share of master's degree students than professional degree students, even though professional programs are more expensive.
• The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the OBBBA's graduate loan caps will save taxpayers $44 billion over ten years. Supporters also say the caps will pressure schools to lower tuition. Critics counter that the savings come at the cost of degree access. What is the core mechanism by which loan caps could push down graduate tuition?
• The Department of Education published the RISE (Reimagining and Improving Student Education) Final Rule on May 1, 2026, to implement the OBBBA's loan caps. A coalition of 25 states and the District of Columbia sued the Department, not over the loan caps themselves, but over how the Department defined "professional degree program." What legal argument did the states make?
• Judge Howell's June 24, 2026, order stopped the OBBBA's student loan caps from taking effect on July 1, 2026.
• The Grad PLUS Loan Program was created by Congress in 2005 through the Deficit Reduction Act, which was itself a budget reconciliation bill. What problem was Congress trying to solve when it created Grad PLUS, and why is it significant that reconciliation was also used to eliminate it in 2025?
• On July 1, 2026, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Jack Reed, and Chris Van Hollen sent a letter to Federal Reserve Inspector General Michael Horowitz. What did the letter ask Horowitz to do?
• The Federal Reserve's FOMC blackout period runs from two Saturdays before a meeting until midnight the day after the meeting concludes, prohibiting officials from publicly discussing monetary policy with anyone who could profit from that information.
• Former Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker, who spent a decade subject to FOMC blackout rules, said the rules about Bowman's Bank of America dinner "left no room for interpretation." What was Harker's specific reasoning?
• The Inspector General of the Federal Reserve has the authority to fire officials found to have violated ethics rules.
• As Vice Chair for Supervision, Michelle Bowman has direct authority over which institutions? Why does her attendance at a Bank of America-hosted dinner make that significant?
• Kevin Warsh was confirmed as Federal Reserve Chair on May 13, 2026, by a 54-45 Senate vote. What made that vote historically significant?
• In September 2021, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren both resigned after reporting exposed their personal stock trades during 2020, when they were setting pandemic-era monetary policy. What does the 2021 trading scandal teach about how Fed ethics accountability actually works?
• The Fed's external communications policy explicitly bans senior officials from attending any closed-door event hosted by a for-profit organization at any time of year, not just during the FOMC blackout period.
• Place these events from the Bowman-Bank of America dinner story in the correct chronological order.
• The Standing Repo Facility (SRF) is a Federal Reserve monetary policy tool the FOMC established in July 2021. Why does Bowman reportedly discussing the SRF at the Bank of America dinner make the ethics concern more serious?
• What did the House Budget Committee's 20–14 vote do?
• Why can appropriations committees hear testimony from government institutions?
• Congress may fund judicial security while remaining unable to dictate the outcome of individual cases.
• What question does a motion to proceed answer?
• Congressional hearings can gather information about military policy without themselves declaring war or appropriating money.