Here’s the latest from Sheryl Cohen of CEF. I was on the Hill last Thursday and was able to attend the budget book briefing (see below). I’m pleased to report that the Executive Director of the South Central Tennessee Workforce Alliance, Jan McKeel, spoke often, and well, about the importance of the federal investment in adult education. She was particularly good at explaining how important it was in keeping the basic infrastructure of adult education going in her region, and how important investing in teachers was. Strong pick to talk about workforce development and adult education in this context and credit to Ron Painter from the National Association of Workforce Boards for recommending her. I’ll send you CEF’s letter on the FY 2018 Labor-HHS-Education bill when it is released. Jeff — Advocacy · Budget Book event last week – Thanks to all who were a part of Thursday’s event, which was a great success (next year, we will get a bigger room with more seats!). There were 40+ Hill staff on hand to hear our panelists describe in detail how important federal education funding is and why Congress should increase this investment. Our next step is to continue working to get press in our panelists’ congressional districts and states, and then follow up with those Senators and Representatives whom we are focusing on all year (they are Senators Alexander, Blunt, and Capito, and Representative Frelinghuysen and Stefanik, and for this event Senator McConnell). As always, thanks also to those who are helping to deliver the books to Hill offices. · CEF letters on FY 2018 Labor-HHS-Education bill – CEF will be sending a letter today to the House Appropriations Committee leadership urging an increase in the discretionary spending caps and opposing education cuts in the fiscal year (FY) spending bill. On Friday, CEF, the Coalition for Health Funding, and Campaign to Invest in America’s Workforce sent the attached letter expressing concern that the low allocation for the Labor-HHS-Education funding bill will have harmful effects on vital programs. · NDD United letter on the House’s nondefense discretionary levels – NDD United sent the attached letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee opposing the Committee’s 302(b) allocations for the 12 government funding bills. It notes that the allocations violate the Budget Control Act’s annual limit on defense spending, while cutting nondefense discretionary spending by $5 billion below the already low cap set by law. Policy Intelligence and Education News · House Appropriations Committee markup of FY 2018 Labor-HHS-Education bill – On Wednesday, July 19, at 10am the Committee is scheduled to first mark up the State and Foreign Operations funding bill, and then immediately turn to the Labor-HHS-Education bill. We will keep you informed of any amendments, and provide more complete program level funding as it becomes available. Markup will be in room 2359 Rayburn, and will be webcast. · House Budget Committee to consider FY 2018 budget resolution this week – The House Budget Committee mark up the Republican FY 2018 budget resolution for Wednesday at 10am. The markup had been on hold as Republican leadership negotiated the topline spending levels – the amount of mandatory spending cuts of 10 years and the levels of defense and nondefense discretionary (NDD) funding for FY 2018 – that will garner a majority vote among Committee and House Republicans. We expect the resolution to cut NDD funding by $5 billion below the sequester-level cap in law for FY 2018, matching the total in the appropriations bills working their way through the process already, with the Labor-HHS-Education bill taking the brunt of the cuts. · Other Appropriations Committee markups this week – The House Appropriations Committee is close to completing all 12 bills, and the Senate Committee is working on its second and third bills. House Appropriations Committee markups: o Transportation-HUD – Monday, July 17, 7pm in 2359 Rayburn HOB o Homeland Security – Tuesday, July 18, 10:30am in 2359 Rayburn HOB o State-Foreign Operations, and Labor-HHS-Education – Wednesday, July 19, 10am in 2359 Rayburn HOB Senate Appropriations Committee markups o Agriculture – Subcommittee markup on Tuesday, July 18, 10:30am in 124 Dirksen SOB o Energy and Water – Subcommittee markup on Tuesday, July 18, 2:30pm in 138 Dirksen SOB o Agriculture, and Energy and Water – Committee markup on Thursday, July 20, 10:30am in 106 Dirksen SOB

FYI, here’s a quote from Jan McKeel from the CEF press release. “Our goal is to provide the same high-quality adult education and workforce services to all areas – rural, suburban, and urban – and that can’t happen when federal support is drastically cut. We’ve already seen funding cuts, and witnessed the erosion of our workforce development infrastructure, particularly in the more rural areas. The President’s budget would make it much harder to serve the 250,000 people in the many counties we cover.” – Jan McKeel, Executive Director, South Central TN Workforce Alliance, Spring Hill, TN Jeff > On Jul 17, 2017, at 1:22 PM, Jeff Carter <jcarter@literacypolicy.org> wrote: > > Here’s the latest from Sheryl Cohen of CEF. > > I was on the Hill last Thursday and was able to attend the budget book briefing (see below). I’m pleased to report that the Executive Director of the South Central Tennessee Workforce Alliance, Jan McKeel, spoke often, and well, about the importance of the federal investment in adult education. She was particularly good at explaining how important it was in keeping the basic infrastructure of adult education going in her region, and how important investing in teachers was. Strong pick to talk about workforce development and adult education in this context and credit to Ron Painter from the National Association of Workforce Boards for recommending her. > > I’ll send you CEF’s letter on the FY 2018 Labor-HHS-Education bill when it is released. > > Jeff > > — > Advocacy > · Budget Book event last week – Thanks to all who were a part of Thursday’s event, which was a great success (next year, we will get a bigger room with more seats!). There were 40+ Hill staff on hand to hear our panelists describe in detail how important federal education funding is and why Congress should increase this investment. Our next step is to continue working to get press in our panelists’ congressional districts and states, and then follow up with those Senators and Representatives whom we are focusing on all year (they are Senators Alexander, Blunt, and Capito, and Representative Frelinghuysen and Stefanik, and for this event Senator McConnell). As always, thanks also to those who are helping to deliver the books to Hill offices. > · CEF letters on FY 2018 Labor-HHS-Education bill – CEF will be sending a letter today to the House Appropriations Committee leadership urging an increase in the discretionary spending caps and opposing education cuts in the fiscal year (FY) spending bill. On Friday, CEF, the Coalition for Health Funding, and Campaign to Invest in America’s Workforce sent the attached letter expressing concern that the low allocation for the Labor-HHS-Education funding bill will have harmful effects on vital programs. > · NDD United letter on the House’s nondefense discretionary levels – NDD United sent the attached letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee opposing the Committee’s 302(b) allocations for the 12 government funding bills. It notes that the allocations violate the Budget Control Act’s annual limit on defense spending, while cutting nondefense discretionary spending by $5 billion below the already low cap set by law. > Policy Intelligence and Education News > · House Appropriations Committee markup of FY 2018 Labor-HHS-Education bill – On Wednesday, July 19, at 10am the Committee is scheduled to first mark up the State and Foreign Operations funding bill, and then immediately turn to the Labor-HHS-Education bill. We will keep you informed of any amendments, and provide more complete program level funding as it becomes available. Markup will be in room 2359 Rayburn, and will be webcast. > · House Budget Committee to consider FY 2018 budget resolution this week – The House Budget Committee mark up the Republican FY 2018 budget resolution for Wednesday at 10am. The markup had been on hold as Republican leadership negotiated the topline spending levels – the amount of mandatory spending cuts of 10 years and the levels of defense and nondefense discretionary (NDD) funding for FY 2018 – that will garner a majority vote among Committee and House Republicans. We expect the resolution to cut NDD funding by $5 billion below the sequester-level cap in law for FY 2018, matching the total in the appropriations bills working their way through the process already, with the Labor-HHS-Education bill taking the brunt of the cuts. > · Other Appropriations Committee markups this week – The House Appropriations Committee is close to completing all 12 bills, and the Senate Committee is working on its second and third bills. > House Appropriations Committee markups: > o Transportation-HUD – Monday, July 17, 7pm in 2359 Rayburn HOB > o Homeland Security – Tuesday, July 18, 10:30am in 2359 Rayburn HOB > o State-Foreign Operations, and Labor-HHS-Education – Wednesday, July 19, 10am in 2359 Rayburn HOB > Senate Appropriations Committee markups > o Agriculture – Subcommittee markup on Tuesday, July 18, 10:30am in 124 Dirksen SOB > o Energy and Water – Subcommittee markup on Tuesday, July 18, 2:30pm in 138 Dirksen SOB > o Agriculture, and Energy and Water – Committee markup on Thursday, July 20, 10:30am in 106 Dirksen SOB > > <CHF CEF CIAW 302bResponse.HouseLHHS.PDF> > <NDDU.302bLetter.July2017.pdf> > _______________________________________________ > National Coalition for Literacy Members mailing list > Members@lists.national-coalition-literacy.org > To unsubscribe: http://lists.national-coalition-literacy.org/mailman/listinfo/members_lists.national-coalition-literacy.org