Here is CEF’s Tuesday update. Highlights: The note about the House Appropriations Committee Agriculture bill (item #2) may of interest as that bill includes SNAP funding. Your organization may want to consider signing on to the BBA Sign-on letter mentioned in item #5. They’ve pushed back the deadline to Friday, April 15. Attached is the letter from 2011. NCL will be a signer. Finally, note item #7, a request from the American Library Association (and NCL member) regarding a sign-on letter in support of Dr. Carla Hayden’ nomination as the Librarian of Congress. I’d like to request that NCL sign on. As this nomination is outside of any of NCL’s established policy priorities, please let me or Judy Mortrude, our policy chair, know if you have any objection by COB Thursday. Jeff Jeff Carter — President, National Coalition for Literacy www.national-coalition-literacy.org Email/Phone: Use general contact info below General Contact Info — jcarter@literacypolicy.org or jeffcrtr@gmail.org Personal Twitter: @jeffcrtr | literacypolicy.org Cell: (202) 374-4387 > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Joel Packer <jpacker@cef.org> > Subject: Tuesday Update > Date: April 12, 2016 at 5:45:33 PM EDT > To: Joel Packer <jpacker@cef.org> > > > THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS TO DATE: American Alliance of Museums (AAM), ISTE, NACAC, NAfME, National PTA, ProLiteracy, SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), and Taylor Strategies > In order to showcase the breadth of CEF membership, we invite your organization to be a $1,000 sponsor for this event. Sponsorship includes 5 tickets with premium reserved seating and logo placement on the event’s webpage, as well as on select printed materials for the event. Your generous sponsorship will help defray costs associated with catering, closed-captioning services, and printing materials. See attached sponsorship agreement and memo. > > If you are interested in serving as a sponsor or have additional questions, please contact Ally Bernstein at ally@jbernsteinstrategy.com <mailto:ally@jbernsteinstrategy.com> by April 30th, 2016. (See attached) > > 1. CEF Budget Response and Membership Directory: If you have not yet picked up your copy of these two publications, we’ll have copies again at Friday’s CEF meeting. You are also welcome to come by my office anytime to pick yours up (1341 G Street, NW, Fifth floor). In addition to all the Congressional deliveries, I delivered copies to Roberto Rodriguez and his team at White House DPC, and a bunch to key Department of Education staff. > > 2. FY 2017 Appropriations: > a. House: The Appropriations Committee today released the following: > · Appropriations Committee Releases the Fiscal Year 2017 Agriculture Appropriations Bill <http://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=394490> (it will be marked up in subcommittee tomorrow) > “Child nutrition programs – The bill provides for $23.2 billion in required mandatory funding – which is outside the discretionary funding jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee – for child nutrition programs. This is $1 billion above the fiscal year 2016 enacted level. This funding will provide free or reduced-price school lunches and snacks for 32 million children who qualify for the program. The bill provides more than $628 million for the Summer Food Service Program to ensure low-income children continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not in session. In addition, the bill continues funding for a pilot program that provides additional funds through SNAP or WIC electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards to ensure children in underserved communities receive food during the summer months. The bill continues existing provisions that allow schools demonstrating a financial hardship to seek an exemption from the whole grain nutrition standards, and prevents the implementation of further sodium reduction standards until the latest scientific research establishes the reduction is beneficial for children.” > > · Appropriations Committee Releases Fiscal Year 2017 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill <http://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=394488> (it will be marked up in subcommittee tomorrow) > “Science Research – The bill includes $5.4 billion for science research – an increase of $50 million above the fiscal year 2016 enacted level. This funding supports basic energy research, the development of high-performance computing systems, and research into the next generation of energy sources. These investments lay the groundwork for a more secure energy future, helping to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and ensuring continued economic growth.” > > · FY 2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Bill <http://appropriations.house.gov/UploadedFiles/BILLS-114HR-FC-AP-FY2017-AP00-MilCon.pdf> - Full Committee Draft (it will be marked up in full committee tomorrow) > · FY 2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Bill <http://appropriations.house.gov/UploadedFiles/HRPT-114-HR-FY2017-MilCon.pdf> - Draft Committee Report > > “READJUSTMENT BENEFITS > Fiscal year 2016 enacted level ........................................................... $14,313,357,000 > Fiscal year 2017 enacted level ........................................................... 16,340,828,000 > Fiscal year 2018 advance budget request .........................................13,708,648,000 > Fiscal year 2018 Committee recommendation in the bill ............... 13,708,648,000 > Comparison with: > Fiscal year 2017 enacted level ................................................... (2,632,180,000) > Fiscal year 2018 budget request ............................................... – – – > This appropriation finances the education and training of veterans and servicemembers through the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the All-Volunteer Force Educational Assistance Program. Supplemental education benefits are also provided to certain veteran members of the Selected Reserve and are funded through transfers from the Department of Defense (DOD). In addition, certain disabled veterans are provided with vocational rehabilitation, specially adapted housing grants, and grants for automobiles with approved adaptive equipment. This account also finances educational assistance allowances for eligible dependents of veterans who died from service-connected causes or have a total and permanent service-connected disability, as well as dependents of servicemembers who were captured or are missing in action. More than 82 percent of the funds in the account support the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The reduction in the fiscal year 2018 budget request is due to the availability of carried-over unobligated balances.” > > “Alternative use of education benefits.—With approximately one million veterans settling into American communities in the next three to five years, the Committee believes that it is important to find innovative ways to support veterans in their professional development. The Post-9/11 GI Bill provides post-secondary education as the principal option for veterans when they return. However, this may not meet the need of every veteran, as each individual possesses unique skill sets and experiences from their time in service that may be better suited to pursuing a career as a business owner. Therefore, the Committee encourages VA to work closely with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to further improve entrepreneurial opportunities for veterans. The Committee requests a report from VA analyzing the feasibility of using Post-9/ 11 GI Bill benefits for business capital formation for qualified veterans, in consultation with the SBA’s recommendations. This report shall be due to the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act.” > > b. Senate: Tomorrow, subcommittees will Markup the FY2017 Energy & Water Development Appropriations Bill <http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/markup-of-the-fy2017-energy-and-water-development-appropriations-bill> and the Military Construction & Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill <http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/markup-of-the-fy2017-military-constsruction-and-veterans-affairs-appropriations-bill>. > > On Thursday, the full committee will approve its 302(b) Allocations, and Markup the FY17 Energy & Water Development and FY17 MilCon-VA Appropriations Bills <http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/consideration-of-302b-allocations-markup-of-the-fy17-energy-and-water-development-and-fy17-milcon-va-appropriations-bills>. I expect the 302(b)s to be bipartisan. Senate Democratic Leader Reid said, “The allocations that have been set are fair - they are not as robust as I would like - but they are fair.” > > Majority Leader McConnell said the Senate will take up the Energy and Water bill on the floor next week, making that the earliest the Senate has started floor consideration of appropriations bills in modern times. The Senate will take up the FY 2016 House-Passed Energy and Water bill and strike the contents and insert its committee–reported bill. After Energy and Water, it is not clear when MilCon/VA will get to the floor because there is not a FY 2016 House-passed MilCon/VA bill available as a shell for Senate floor consideration. > > I was told that the next likely batch of bills to be marked up in the Senate include Agriculture, CJS, and THUD. > > See: Senate to Set Record in Pushing Appropriations Bill to Floor <http://www.cq.com/doc/news-4866442?3&srcpage=news&srcsec=cqn> (CQ) > > 3. FY 2017 Budget: The Senate Budget Committee today issued BUDGET BULLETIN: Establishing an FY17 Senate Budget Framework <http://www.budget.senate.gov/republican/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=5362E6FD-6D30-4A18-87D3-C2BB14AE3DC0> stating “Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) plans to set the budget levels after April 15 and by May 15, 2016, as required by BBA-15.” The expectation is he will file those topline numbers on Monday, April 18. > > On the House side, it’s looking less and less likely that the House will pass a Budget Resolution. Its failure to do so will almost certainly delay consideration of the first appropriations bill until the week of May 16. See: House Budget Resolution Likely Nearing Its Last Gasp <http://www.cq.com/doc/news-4865626?9> (CQ): “Short of an unexpected change of heart among opponents of the plan (H Con Res 125), there is no visible path to adoption on the House floor, according to lawmakers, staff and people close to the process.” > > 4. SBC Hearing: The Senate Budget Committee has announced an April 13 Hearing on Fixing Broken Budget Process <http://www.budget.senate.gov/republican/public/index.cfm/hearing-schedule?ID=F90ABCB0-4162-4B3D-8412-797CE3956394>. “Wednesday’s hearing will highlight the benefits of outcome-based budgeting and how it could improve congressional budget decisions. The current input-based process encourages Congress to ask how much more it can spend on a program. Changing this process to an outcome-based approach would focus on how much is being spent across all programs to achieve a selected goal, and which programs are achieving that goal most effectively.” > > 5. BBA Sign-on Deadline Extended (4/15): Thank you to all who have already signed on to the national groups letter. We have 192 groups on the letter but need to get nearly another 100 to match the 2011 tally. Please sign-on! We’ve pushed back the deadline to Friday, April 15. Attached is the letter from 2011 and we hope that everyone who signed that letter will be a signatory on the new one. > > 6. ESSA: The Senate HELP committee today held a hearing ESSA Implementation in States and School Districts: Perspectives from the U.S. Secretary of Education <http://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/essa-implementation-in-states-and-school-districts-perspectives-from-the-us-secretary-of-education>. I was live tweeting from the hearing, so check out the tweets <https://twitter.com/edfunding/with_replies> to read what happened. It was very focused on the issue of Supplement Not Supplant – one of the issues under discussion in the negotiated rulemaking committee. It was very testy with Chairman Alexander strongly criticizing Sec. King for ED’s proposal. See: Chairman Alexander: Already “Disturbing Evidence” that Education Department Is Ignoring the New Law <http://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/chairman-alexander-already-disturbing-evidence-that-education-department-is-ignoring-the-new-law> and Sen. Alexander to John King: Rethink Your Draft ESSA Spending Rules, Or Else <http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2016/04/alexander_king_essa_regulations_overturn_congress.html> (Politics K12). > > King announced that ED has submitted draft proposed regs on certain parts of Title I accountability to OMB for review and hopes to publish a proposed rule in late spring or summer. > > He further announced that ED will issue guidance on issues relating to foster children, homeless students, and English language Learners in the summer. > > 7. Hayden-for-Librarian: The American Library Association asked me to share this: > Reliable word from the Senate remains that Dr. Carla Hayden is likely to have her confirmation hearing for Librarian of Congress before the Senate Rules Committee during the current April work period, which extends through the very end of the month. While she’s not expected to have a rough ride (the Chair supports her), the suggestion that she’s “unqualified” has made it into print and garnered some attention on the Hill. To conclusively rebut that, it would be extremely useful to provide Chairman Blunt, Ranking Member Schumer and all Committee Members with strong statements to the contrary from as broad a range of stakeholders as possible. > > To that end, ALA has drafted two such letters (at the suggestion of some on this list): one focused on leadership and technology savvy geared to signature by companies and/or their trade associations (named “CORP”), and a second slightly broader letter aimed at any other kind of group that wishes to weigh in (named “NONPROF”). Both are attached. It would be best to deliver them to Committee staff no later than Monday, the 18th. > > So, if at all possible, please let Adam Eisgrau <mailto:aeisgrau@alawash.org> know no later than Friday April 15th which letter you and/or your individual members would like to sign on to. The more signators the better, obviously, so special thanks in advance to associations and groups comfortable asking their individual members if they’d like to join in their own names, too. Questions, comments, edits welcome as well, of course. > > > Joel Packer > CEF Executive Director > JPacker@cef.org <mailto:JPacker@cef.org> > 202-383-0083 > 202-255-0915 (cell) > www.cef.org <http://www.cef.org/> > www.Twitter.com/edfunding <http://www.twitter.com/edfunding> > NOTE OUR NEW ADDRESS > 1341 G Street, NW > Fifth Floor > Washington, DC 20005 > >