Some updates below, mainly cribbed from the latest CEF update. — Jeff FY 2018 Appropriations Sarah Abernathy, CEF: "Last week Congress passed a two-week extension of government funding at the fiscal year (FY) 2017 level, setting up another deadline for action on December 22. The plan is that by then leadership will have settled on a budget deal to raise the defense and non-defense discretionary (NDD) cap levels – likely for FY 2018 and FY 2019 – and possibly made decisions on emergency funding for disaster relief, how to deal with Dreamers, reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and other priorities. There are thorny issues in all of those items, so a deal is not a foregone conclusion, but if one is reached then Congress would vote on legislation including these items plus a third continuing resolution to keep funding going through at least mid-January. That would give appropriators time to negotiate a year-long omnibus funding bill for FY 2018 using the increased funding under the revised caps." CEF staff is trying to arrange meetings between CEF leadership (including myself) and members of the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee chairs to essentially reiterate the points we made in CEF's last letter to Appropriations leadership <https://cef.org/wp-content/uploads/11.30.17-NDD-cap-increase-and-302b-FINAL.pdf>: (1) eliminate the NDD sequester, (2) ensure that the new allocation for their bill gets its fair share of the increased funding, and (3) use that funding to invest in education. Higher Education Act Reauthorization Sarah Abernathy, CEF: "This morning the House Education and the Workforce Committee began marking up HR 4508, the Republican reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. (The webcast is here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c13k9DZ62N0&feature=youtu.be>.) Democrats plan to offer a long series of amendments reflecting their AIM HIGHER <https://democrats-edworkforce.house.gov/aim-higher> initiative focusing on improving access, quality, completion, and cost of college. The Democratic amendments are not likely to pass, and Democrats plan to offer a substitute bill on the House floor. Republican fact sheets and materials are here <https://edworkforce.house.gov/prosper/>, and Democratic materials are here <https://democrats-edworkforce.house.gov/issues/fact-sheets>." Sarah also provided links to materials from CEF members opposed to the legislation: American Council on Education – ACE and 36 other higher education associations sent a letter <http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Letter-PROSPER-Act-Markup.pdf> to the Committee expressing deep concerns with the bill’s provisions that will increase costs to students and other changes to the administration of student aid. ACE published a summary <http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/ACE-Summary-of-House-Prosper-Act.pdf> and critique <http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/ACE-Other-Higher-Education-Groups-HEA-Bill-Being-Rushed-Through-Committee-Without-Clear-Understanding-of-Consequences.aspx> of the bill. National Center for Learning Disabilities – Efforts focus on how the bill decreases college access for students with disabilities. NCLD has an advocacy toolkit <https://www.ncld.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NCLD-PROSPER-Act-Advocacy-Toolkit_FINAL.pdf> and information for a social media Thunderclap today at 1pm <https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/65746-oppose-the-prosper-act>. AccessLex Institute – Efforts focus on protecting the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF), with a Twitter Chat on December 13 at 3pm EST <https://www.accesslex.org/sites/default/files/2017-12/PSLF%20Twitter%20Chat%20Questions_0.pdf>. Congress is moving to eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), which would negatively impact those who choose a career in public service, as well as the communities in which they serve. The chat will focus on how PSLF can help students serve their communities, how schools are advising students amid uncertainty, and how schools are advocating to #ProtectPSLF. Tax Reform The conference committee meets tomorrow but bear in mind they are not really doing much in the way of negotiating — the actual negotiations taking place by leadership. Sarah says the the Senate version of the bill is the likely starting point for negotiations. NDD United is organizing grassroots activity to focus on the indirect impact large tax cuts will have on non-defense spending. It includes an UPDATED TOOLKIT <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001AlZTIkpQWbsyRL4-bGhnYqwWrBcN0kNRovCcGuV-Tn-Qogz488OZ_DRh6i-zf5sXJxxoL5LbbJBeEnVuTKpn7UZYplCkaM_eBGA-Hw73I9OZNgispEwfyolQ7JMPVz3pbSXZ8F2vVNTjjRbnO_1lk8I7Mhw_tb3NVaPA6Z-w-_fk3X4I4UE9fQHK9bFdI41DDVcUIdftkP8hkIRTzTsN6QD6I5Kz5aD4IEfUJmTtG21lVEyugtQnO7XP570SXWeN&c=6t64Qt0AYDbMfz4xE90-fuh8DeqXyZ2l_w-jB7M5EqXin1-72N86-Q==&ch=CJR0joZL2_hD5GGxxG-GRCeV4dvYPmt8NHT0mxIcwq044jpF88DrKw==> including sample social media posts, letters to the editor, phone scripts, and more. Jeff Carter Cell: (202) 374-4387 | @jeffcrtr Past President & Policy Advisor National Coalition for Literacy www.national-coalition-literacy.org <http://www.national-coalition-literacy.org/> jcarter@literacypolicy.org <mailto:jcarter@literacypolicy.org> Vice-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>