Overview

• The House Ways and Means Committee released a reconciliation bill raising the excise tax on university endowments over $2 million per student from 1.4% to 21%.
• Private foundations with assets exceeding $5 billion would face an increased excise tax of up to 10% under the proposed legislation.
• Religious universities and state schools are exempted from the increased endowment tax, limiting the bill’s impact on these institutions.
• The Trump administration is withholding billions in federal research and development grants from elite universities such as Harvard, Columbia, Penn, and Johns Hopkins as part of its campaign against perceived ideological biases.
• Republicans aim to pass the bill through the Senate using reconciliation, allowing for a simple majority vote to codify key provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.