A lot happened (or didn’t happen) on the Hill just before the July 4th recess — here is a brief summary in preparation for our policy call later this week.

FY 2019 Appropriations

A lot happened (or didn’t happen) on the Hill just before the July 4th recess — here is a brief summary in preparation for our policy call later this week. FY 2019 Appropriations Senate: You will all remember that the budget deal from last spring, which provided an increase for non-defense discretionary (NDD) spending for FY 2018 — also included an $18 billion increase for FY 2019. That provided the Senate with the opportunity to increase funding for almost all of its individual spending bills, including the Labor-HHS-Education bill, which got a $2.2 billion increase over the FY 2018 level. This is why the Senate Labor/HHS Appropriation Subcommittee had an opportunity to increase some education line items, like the line item for adult education (specifically Title II under WIOA), which you will remember got an increase of $25 million (in case you haven’t had a chance to review, here is the bill <https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/s3158/BILLS-115s3158pcs.pdf> and here is the report <https://www.congress.gov/115/crpt/srpt289/CRPT-115srpt289.pdf>.) The bill was approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee by a vote of 30-1 the week before the July 4th break. No amendments were offered during the markup. House: The House Appropriations Committee is marking up their Labor-HHS-Education bill on Wednesday at 10am. The Committee has twice canceled previously scheduled mark-ups. The House Labor-HHS-Education bill does not have the increases that the Senate bill has, as the subcommittee's allocation was essentially frozen at last year’s level. Subcommittee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) has said he hopes there will be more funding for the bill once it is conferenced with the more generous Senate version. CTE/OCTAE On June 26, the Senate HELP Committee reported out a reauthorization of the Perkins CTE Act. Ivanka Trump was there! (I am not making that up.) They also approved the nomination of Scott Stump to be Assistant Secretary of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE). When asked if anyone could think of anything negative to say about him, committee members said they were stumped. (I am making that up.) Here is a link concerning both actions <https://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/s3029-s1222-s808-s3039-s_-a-bill-to-reauthorize-the-carl-d-perkins-career-and-technical-education-act-and-nominations>. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform did hold a hearing June 27 on the administration’s reorganization plan. You can watch a recording of the hearing here <https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/examining-the-administrations-government-wide-reorganization-plan/>. As you know, the plan includes a consolidation of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) with the U.S. Department of Education into one confused agency to be called the Department of Education and the Workforce. The only witness was Margaret Weichert, the Deputy Director for Management for the Office of Management and Budget. In case you need the link, the reorganization plan is here <https://educationcounsel.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3d9aa12b65b2ae5160bff63ff&id=d8110f3643&e=dfbb9f2b60>. Meeting at the Department of Education. I put on my CEF hat a couple of weeks ago for a meeting at the Department of Education with members of the Secretary's policy leadership team. During the meeting, I asked whether or not the department was developing a budget based on the reorganization plan, and was told (not surprisingly) that they were not. In other words, the administration’s FY 2020 budget will continue to include separate budgets for the Department of Education and the Department of Labor, just like it is now. We were told that the plan was put out there “to get people thinking about how to deliver services…” and as "a way of thinking about the continuum..” etc. We also heard that part of the reason for combining the agencies would be to align better with congressional committees. I can’t say much more, except that I don’t personally believe there is a strong effort being made by the administration to push for this plan. It's also worth noting that there doesn’t seem to be anyone on the Hill really taking the idea off merging the departments very seriously. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think it’s not a good idea to be prepared to counter the arguments for such a merger — I just wouldn’t put this high on the list of things to worry about. Farm Bill/SNAP The House and Senate have now both passed their version of the farm bill. The Senate passed their version right before the July 4th recess by a vote of 86-11. The House passed its bill the week before that, in what was an entirely partisan vote — it didn’t receive a single Democratic vote. As those of you who follow this closely already know, the House bill tightens eligibility for SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and adds more stringent work requirements for those who do qualify. The Senate version doesn’t include these provisions, from what I understand. (Please correct me if I’m wrong, I have not been following this closely.) Here is the Senate bill <https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/s3042/BILLS-115s3042rs.pdf>. Here is the House bill <https://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/agriculture_and_nutrition_act_of_2018.pdf>. Not clear yet when they will conference on the two bills. Immigration I’m sure a lot of you have been following this, but for the sake of completeness, the House rejected an immigration bill, H.R. 6136 — aka the “Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018” — aka the Paul Ryan “compromise" bill that no one liked — on June 27 by a vote of 121-300. Others with a stronger stomach and more thorough knowledge of the facts can supply further details on how they ended up with that bill, and, more importantly, what is going to happen next… Feel free to fill in any gaps in my knowledge (or offer any corrections/clarifications). Talk to you all on Wednesday. Jeff