House Appropriations Committee Proposes Another Continuing Resolution

Last Friday, the House Appropriations Committee released another Continuing Resolution bill that provides more temporary 2011 funding for federal programs subject to appropriations. Though fiscal year 2011 began October 1, 2010, Congress has yet to finalize appropriations for discretionary programs (including most education programs) and has instead passed a series of Continuing Resolutions that temporarily extend last year’s spending levels.

Last month the House passed a full-year CR for fiscal year 2011 that would have reduced funding for a number of education programs compared to last year. Neither the Senate nor the president approved the bill, so this latest move by the House would again extend last year’s appropriations for two more weeks while Congress hashes out funding levels for the remaining months of fiscal year 2011. The Senate looks set to pass the bill after it clears the House today.

This latest CR would cut $4 billion from last year’s funding levels, which totaled $1.082 trillion. Education programs would be cut by $890 million compared to 2010 levels, which totaled $69.9 billion.

Specifically, the bill cuts funding entirely from four major education programs: Striving Readers, which provides grants to help improve reading skills for middle and high school students, was funded at $250 million in fiscal year 2010. Even Start, a grant program for local family literacy projects, received $66 million in 2010. The Small Learning Communities program provides grants to local education agencies to open small schools and received $88 million in 2010. And Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP), which provides grants to states to provide need-based grants to eligible postsecondary students, received $64 million. All together, these program eliminations account for $468 million in cuts from the Department of Education budget.

According to a House Appropriations Committee’s press release, these cuts were included in the President’s 2012 budget request released a few weeks ago. It should be noted, however, that the Obama Administration proposed cutting these programs and, with the exception of LEAP, replacing them with consolidated programs that would more efficiently distribute funds. This means that in the President’s plan the Department of Education would have received just as much or even a little bit more funding whereas under the House CR plan, the funds would just be cut.

The new House CR also cuts funding from several programs that House Republicans consider “earmarks.” In education this includes programs like Workforce Investment Boards (created in the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006), Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Grants (created in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act), and Olympics Scholarships (extended through the Higher Education Amendments of 1992). When combined, these cuts total another $422 million.

This latest CR restates that the maximum available Pell Grant would be $5,550, the same as this year’s maximum grant. The CR provides $23.2 billion for the Pell Grant program, an amount that would cover all but $5.0 billion of the estimated cost of the program in 2011-12. However, the budget authority granted by this CR would expire before any of those Pell Grants are distributed, making this funding level moot until a permanent bill is passed.

In all, this new House CR is just a temporary fix for a bigger budget fight that is likely to happen in the coming weeks. Until then, it looks like the House and Senate will pass this bill, and the President will sign it, to avoid a government shut down. The actual fate of fiscal year 2011 appropriations, however, is still yet to be determined.