Really good update from Sarah... Jeff == == == == == == Forwarded message == == == == == == >From : Sarah Abernathy<abernathy@cef.org> To : "CEFMembersList"<CEFMembersList@americancontinentalgroup.onmicrosoft.com> Date : Wed, 06 Sep 2017 14:45:25 -0400 Subject : CEF Update: 9.6.2017 - Senate Labor-HHS-Education mark-up, House FY 2018 omnibus I. Fiscal Year 2018 Education Funding in the Senate Subcommittee bill · Senate Appropriations Subcommittee markup this morning provides few details – This morning the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee reported its fiscal year (FY) 2018 education funding bill, which will be considered by the full Committee tomorrow. There were no amendments, just a few opening remarks, and no public legislative text. Both Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) noted that this bipartisan bill was a compromise reflecting the best they could do with the resources they were given. (Remember that in the absence of a FY 2018 budget resolution establishing a discretionary total for the year, the Senate Appropriations Committee allocated last year’s total among the 12 funding bills for FY 2018, but that total is above the FY 2018 caps set in the Budget Control Act). · Education funding – Chairman Blunt noted the following funding specifics in his statement and a press release: o Department of Education – not counting rescissions of Pell grant funding in FY 2017 or FY 2018, the bill provides $68.3 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education, a $29 million increase over the comparable 2017 level. However, we don’t know how much of the funding is “paid for” with rescissions to the Pell grant surplus (see below). Except for special education, Pell grants, and student aid administration, whose funding level has not yet been specified, the bill maintains or slightly increases funding for all of the Department’s programs over $1 billion. o Pell grants – the bill provides a 1.7 percent ($100) increase in the maximum Pell grant, which would increase from this year’s $5,920 to $6,020. Unlike in recent years, this increase is provided with discretionary funding, not mandatory funding enacted in separate legislation. The bill continues to support the provision of year-round Pell grants that were enacted in the FY 2017 funding bill. Presumably the additional discretionary costs are paid for with already-enacted discretionary funding that currently comprises an $8.6 billion “surplus” for the program. We know the bill rescinds some of the surplus because Chairman Blunt said that if the bill is allocated additional funding, he will address the Pell grant rescission (Congress already rescinded $1.3 billion for FY 2017, and for FY 2018 both the President’s budget and the House Appropriations Committee bill rescind an additional more than $3 billion). o Title I state grants – increased $25 million to $15.485 billion. We have heard (but have not confirmed) that total Title I funding is up by $25 million, which means it’s likely that all other Title I programs are frozen at FY 2017 levels. o Title IV-A – Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants - $450 million (up $50 million from the FY 2017 level) o Impact Aid - $1.3 billion (up $11.5 million) o Charter schools – $367 million (up $25 million but below both the President’s request and the House Committee level) o Funding frozen at the 2017 level: § 21st Century Community Learning Centers § Title II Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (this program is eliminated in both the President’s budget and the House Committee bill) § IDEA Grants to States, Part B, Section 611 § Career and Technical Education State Grants § Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants § Federal Work Study o Workforce training grants – frozen at current levels. o TRIO - $953 million (up $3 million) o Head Start – frozen at the current level of $9.3 billion. o Child Care and Development Block Grant – frozen at the current level of $2.9 billion. o NIH – a $2 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health (his stated top priority). · More details to come tomorrow – We won’t see text of the bill until the Senate Appropriations Committee meets tomorrow to consider amendments in its markup tomorrow. (Note that the markup starts at 10:30am, but will cover both this bill and the foreign operations bill.) As soon as we are able to confirm funding levels for all accounts, and the individual programs within each account, we’ll share a table. II. Fiscal Year 2018 Education Funding in the House · House omnibus non-security funding bill – The House passed 4 security-related bills in an omnibus measure in July, and is now adding that bill to a bundle of the 8 remaining bills reported by the House Appropriations Committee, including the education funding bill. Representatives submitted about 1,000 proposed amendments to those 8 bills over the summer, and the House Rules Committee last night began whittling that number down, approving 118 amendments that may be offered to four of the bills: Agriculture, Transportation/HUD, Homeland Security, and State/Foreign Operations. This afternoon the Rules Committee is meeting to decide which amendments can be offered to the Labor-HHS-Education bill (Division F of the omnibus), and the Interior, Commerce/Justice, Science, and Financial Services bills also in the omnibus package. The debate on the omnibus package (HR 3354, which was originally just the Interior Appropriations bill) should be concluded by Friday. · Other funding issues in the House – the House Republican caucus is meeting today to decide how – or if – to proceed with the FY 2018 budget resolution approved this summer by the House Budget Committee. (For a description of the budget resolution, see the CEF Update sent on July 20 – they are all stored on the CEF website in the Members’ area if you need to find them.) Earlier today the House approved almost $8 billion in hurricane relief, which the Senate may package with an increase in the debt ceiling, which would then be sent back to the House for a vote. The Administration has said the debt ceiling needs to be increased by the end of this month or it will not be able to meet its obligations, including any new disaster relief. In addition, Republicans are now openly talking about passing a short-term funding extension at current levels to keep the government running through the end of the year, leaving time to possibly negotiate a new budget deal and consider controversial funding priorities such as a border wall. - Sarah