Good to see Amanda, Regina and Peter yesterday. Just have time today to forward for you Sarah's initial analysis of the Senate budget deal. Important to note that some of the specifics are still to be determined…. Jeff > Begin forwarded message: > Wednesday, February 7, 2018 > > Dear CEF Members: > I. Senate budget deal – what’s behind the numbers > > · The bipartisan Senate budget deal does not yet have all specifics settled – Sheryl earlier provided information on the Senate deal announced this afternoon. The attached two slides show how much the non-defense discretionary (NDD) caps increase under the deal. The new NDD fiscal year 2018 cap is $60.5 billion above the FY 2017 level – enough to allow increases for many priorities! The Senate Democratic summary that Sheryl sent around laid out how some of the funding would be used. The table below show combined totals in billions of dollars for FYs 2018 and 2019 that account for almost one-third of the increase. > > > · The $4 billion for college affordability – According to Senate staff on both the Republican and Democratic side, there is no specific policy in mind for the commitment to provide an additional $4 billion for college affordability, just a commitment for that purpose. The Senate Democratic memo says: “$4 billion for programs that aid college affordability, including those that help police officers, teachers, and firefighters.” The deal is for discretionary dollars, which don’t currently fund student loan programs. > > · Funding outside the NDD caps – The deal also includes description of emergency funding and mandatory spending that will not be covered by the spending under the NDD caps. The table below outlines that additional funding. > > · What the Senate will vote on – The agreements described above comprise the deal that Senators have reached, but that deal is not yet in legislative language. The Senate is likely to vote today or tomorrow on a continuing resolution – possibly until March 23 – that allows them to craft legislation that changes the caps, implements the changes to mandatory spending programs, as well as write an omnibus appropriations bill that spends up to the new, higher spending caps. > > - Sarah > >