Senate Fails to Move Education Funding Bill: What’s Next?
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide update information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
A Congress is back in session, and bi-partisanship is increasingly looking to be something we see only in the rear-view mirror.
Senate Fails to Move Education Funding Bill
The Senate Appropriations Committee, often considered one of the last bastions of bi-partisanship, fell apart this week— and along with it, hope for passage of a Senate Labor/HHS/Education bill any time soon. In a surprise last-minute move, the scheduled Tuesday subcommittee markup for the Labor/HHS/Education spending bill was canceled. Republicans claimed that Sen. Patty Murray’s (D-WA) intention to offer an amendment blocking President Trump’s limitation of services offered under Title X (most notably abortion services offered by Planned Parenthood) violates the bipartisan budget agreement. That agreement prohibits “poison pill” riders on appropriations bills. Democrats argued that including funding for the President’s border wall in the Homeland Security Appropriations bill is likewise a poison pill. Thus, the Tuesday Subcommittee markup was canceled.
On Thursday, the full Senate Appropriations Committee met. The polite but partisan meeting featured a further schism between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans have diverted $5 billion in anticipated funds for the Labor/HHS/Education bill to the Homeland Security bill to fund the President’s border wall. Democrats, led by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), supported moving the majority of those funds back into the Labor/HHS/Education bill while Republicans opposed it—thus the Republicans prevailed (by one vote) and money for the wall remains. Another partisan vote yielded passage of the Defense Appropriations Bill with no Democratic support.
The future for Senate consideration of a Labor/HHS/Education bill appears bleak. With the September 30 deadline for funding around the corner, both the House and Senate are expected to take up “Continuing Resolutions,” which will keep the government funded at the current levels for a temporary period. It could well be that we are now so deep into election year politics that bi-partisanship will only continue to diminish, meaning little will be accomplished within the next year. Note that the Congress will be in session only about 40 days between now and the end of the year, further squeezing opportunities for progress.
ED 2020 Coalition Pushes Democratic Presidential Candidates to Comprehensively Address Education
A broad coalition of national education and related organizations have come together to push Democratic presidential candidates to address education matters. Called Education 2020 or ED2020, the group is being supported by the National Public Education Support Fund. Participating organizations include the Center for American Progress, the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities Education Task Force, The Education Trust, the Learning Policy Institute, NAACP, and the Institute for College Access and Success.
Daniel Leeds, chair of ED202, said “We need a universally accessible, comprehensive approach that gives every American the opportunity to lead a successful life—from birth through lifelong learning.” In addition to a set of principles, the group released a “briefing book,” which is made up of sets of recommendations by each of the participating organizations or coalitions. The shortage of qualified teachers is particularly addressed by the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Education Task Force and the Learning Policy Institute.
Continue reading the full Washington Update on my website for more information.
Tags: federal issues, funding
