Trump Administration Calls Guidance on Emergency Cash Grants ‘Preliminary’ – Politico
The Education Department, on its website last week and in a court filing on Monday, said its guidance that barred undocumented students and others who don’t qualify for federal financial aid from an emergency coronavirus relief program was only a “preliminary” policy that hasn’t been fully developed.
— The department, which is being sued by California and Washington over the policy, also said it would not enforce the current guidance about which college students are eligible for the emergency cash grants, meant to be used for things like food and housing.
— In a court filing on Monday in the California lawsuit, the Trump administration described the guidance as a reflection of the department’s “preliminary views.” (Flashback: The department’s April 21 guidance doesn’t use that word).
— The department is engaged in “ongoing consideration” about which college students are eligible for the funds, and that isn’t yet complete, DOJ attorneys wrote. The department “has not completed its decisionmaking process and arrived at a final interpretation of” the CARES Act provision setting up the emergency grant program.