Final update for the week, as usual much culled from CEF… - Jeff Yesterday’s CEF Budget Book Briefing – Steve Hannum from the Literacy Council of Alabama did a terrific job yesterday. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to an event on the Hill where adult education was presented on such equal footing with speakers from higher ed, K-12 etc. This is something I’ve strived for as long as I’ve been representing NCL with CEF, and adult education here on the Hill, so this was personally very satisfying for me. Steve was particularly eloquent responding to a general question about the return on investment in education, putting it in very human terms by describing the economic benefits of one of his students learning to read well enough to pass his welding certificate exam — a certificate that is likely to enable him to more than double his income right out of the gate. Thanks again to the NCL members who working together helped us secure an adult education speaker for this event, especially our colleagues at ProLiteracy, who pointed me in the direction of LCCA and Steve. We had more than 25 Hill education staffers attend the event, and I know Steve had a chance to chat before and after with Alabama congressional staff. Thanks also to Deborah Kennedy who was in attendance and had such a good comment at the end that we decided to close the program with it! BTW, you can download all of the book’s charts from CEF’s web site (cef.org <http://cef.org/>) from the grey “CEF BUDGET BOOK” box. When I get a chance I’ll send you the WIOA and Title II (AEFLA) articles from the book. Rescissions, rescissions: On Wednesday, CEF Executive Director Sheryl Cohen and others on the NDD United Steering Committee sent a letter to Congress expressing concerns about the impact of a rescissions package that the Administration and House Republicans are reported to be drafting. There are reports that the White House wants to propose a rescission of $25 billion in previously approved but still unobligated funding, which suggests that that their proposal is not going to include any funding appropriated for FY 2018. Prospects for passage may improve if it does not touch anything in the just-enacted 2018 spending bill — but not by much, IMO. Again, worth keeping an eye on, but nothing I think for us to be overly concerned about. Deputy Secretary Nomination: Yesterday the Senate provided unanimous consent to schedule debate on the nomination of former South Carolina schools superintendent Mick Zais to be Deputy Secretary of Education. The Senate HELP Committee approved the nomination by voice vote waaaaay back in January. Have a good weekend, Jeff Jeff Carter Cell: (202) 374-4387 | @jeffcrtr Senior Policy Advisor National Coalition for Literacy www.national-coalition-literacy.org <http://www.national-coalition-literacy.org/> jcarter@literacypolicy.org <mailto:jcarter@literacypolicy.org> President, Committee for Education Funding Executive Director Physicians for Social Responsibility 1111 14th St, NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20005 www.psr.org <http://www.psr.org/> | jcarter@psr.org <mailto:jcarter@psr.org>