Just a brief update as things have changed a bit since our policy call: So the House is working on FY17 appropriations bills. in fact, last week the House passed a $577.9 billion defense spending bill – but this is probably the last of the twelve FY17 appropriations bills the House will pass. House leaders are reportedly exploring the possibility of combining the remaining bills into an omnibus. So while we may yet end up with another Continuing Resolution (CR) to get us to the end of the year (the current CR runs through April 28) — which I thought was likely a while ago — House leadership would much rather do this via an omnibus spending bill if possible, and that is what they are working toward. The problem is time. Congress has a two-week recess between now and April 28. If members can’t come to an agreement before the 28th, they might still opt to extend the current CR through September, but it’s not clear how “flat” funding levels would be once they take care of all the anomalies that would be needed to adjust for changes in program authorizations since last year (ESSA, for example, changes a lot the elementary and secondary education programs). They could also do some combination of these options: a “cromnibus!" Another complication is that the Trump Administration may ask for additional funding for FY17 for defense and to begin construction of the infamous wall. Although someone mentioned at the CEF meeting Friday that the administration has been conspicuously missing from these discussions so far. The bottom line is that their preference is not to use a CR to close out FY17 — although that still might be what happens. My guess is that in any scenario, adult education comes out relatively flat/ok, and the big fight is going to be FY18. But it’s a little less clear to me than it was a month ago how everything will play out. Jeff Jeff Carter — Senior Policy Advisor, NCL jcarter@literacypolicy.org or jeffcrtr@gmail.org