Pathways Out of Poverty Act of 2015
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Higher Education and Workforce Training.
Pathways Out of Poverty Act of 2015
DIVISION A--EDUCATION
TITLE I--STRONG START FOR AMERICA'S CHILDREN
Subtitle A--Access to Voluntary Prekindergarten for Low- and Moderate-Income Families
Directs the Department of Education (ED) to allot matching grants to states and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs), childhood education program providers, or consortia of those entities to implement high-quality prekindergarten programs for children from low-income families.
Allots grants to states based on each state's proportion of children who are age four and who are from families with incomes at or below 200% of the poverty level.
Defines "high-quality prekindergarten programs."
Conditions grant eligibility on a state demonstrating to ED that it: (1) has established or will establish early learning and development standards, (2) has established or will develop the ability to link prekindergarten data with elementary and secondary school data, (3) offers state-funded kindergarten for children, and (4) has established a State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care.
Directs ED and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop a process to provide Head Start program services to children who are younger than age four in states or regions that provide four-year-olds whose family income is at or below 200% of the poverty level with sustained access to high-quality prekindergarten programs.
Subtitle B--Prekindergarten Development Grants
Directs ED to award competitive, matching, capacity-building grants to states that assure that they will use their grant to become eligible, within three years of receiving the grant, for this Act's grants for high-quality prekindergarten programs.
TITLE II--RESTORING SUMMER PELL GRANTS
Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to allow ED to award a student two Pell Grants during a single award year if the student is enrolled in an associate or baccalaureate degree program or a certificate program at an institution of higher education (IHE) on at least a half-time basis for the equivalent of more than one academic year during the Pell Grant award year.
The summary continues for 106 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on June 10, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on November 16, 2015: Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
BARBARA LEE (D-CA) introduced it on June 10, 2015, and 47 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 47 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 10, 2015, 4110 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3951 days ago, on November 16, 2015.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers