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Today in DC

The House is expected to adopt the FY 2013 GOP budget plan, which would set up a conflict with the Senate over appropriations spending levels.  That chamber also plans a vote on a three-month highway bill extension, days before funding for transportation programs expires.  

The Senate votes on a motion to invoke cloture on an oil and gas tax preference repeal measure and resumes consideration of its bill on tax rates for high-income earners.

If both chambers can agree on the transportation extension, they will likely leave town this afternoon to begin their 2-week recess period.

In other action in DC, the Supreme Court has concluded oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.  They will now diliberate behind closed doors and offer their ruling sometime in June.

Ryan Budget Proposes Deeper Cuts to Student Financial Aid

Last week, Rep. Paul Ryan (WI), unveiled his FY2013 budget resolution calling for an overhaul to the tax code and deeper reductions in spending. Among Ryan’s proposals was limiting the growth of federal financial aid for college students, focusing it on low-income students. More specifically, Rep. Ryan proposes a budget that:

  • Eliminates the in-school interest subsidies for undergraduate students
  • Eliminates the student aid eligibility expansions enacted by the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA), including auto-zero eligibility and Income Protection Allowance
  • Proposes an undefined a maximum income cap for Pell Grant eligibility
  • Eliminates Pell Grant eligibility for less-than-half-time students
  • Eliminates the automatic increases in the maximum Pell award above $5,550
  • Eliminates the mandatory funding for Pell Grants
  • Eliminates Pell and Campus-Based Aid Administration Cost Allowances (ACA)
  • Repeals the mandatory funding for College Access Challenge Grants ($150 million in FY 2013). Again, since there is no corresponding increase in the discretionary side, in effect this either cuts this program or will result in $150 million in additional cuts in FY 2013 to all other discretionary education programs.
  • Allows interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans to double on July 1 from 3.4% to 6.8%

While this budget resolution is not expected to be adopted in full in the House or the Senate, some of these proposals may be used to shape the debate over the budget and deficit reduction in the coming months and will be a topic that we will be keeping a close eye on.

House Budget Proposes Additional Cuts to FY 2013

The House Budget Committee approved its FY 2013 budget resolution late last night.  This resolution, a blueprint developed by Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), will now go to the House floor where it is expected to gain strong support from most Republicans and fierce opposition from Democrats.  The plan would set discretionary spending in FY 2013 at $1.028 trillion, which is $19 billion less than the $1.047 trillion spending cap outlined in the debt limit agreement (Budget Control Act) approved last August. To find the extra saving, the measure directs six authorizing committees to find more than $200 billion in mandatory savings over a 10-year period. The savings would be packaged together and moved through the House using the budget reconciliation process, although the move will almost certainly be unsuccessful since reconciliation requires that the Senate and House agree to the same budget plan.

The budget resolution will be considered on the House floor next week, the last week of work before a two-week congressional recess period.

FY 2013 Budget & Appropriations this Week

Budget:  With the House in recess last week, work continued behind the scenes to draft the FY 2013 budget resolution which is expected to be marked up this week.  This budget resolution is likely to propose deeper spending cuts in an effort to balance the budget more quickly. Conservatives have been pushing to get the discretionary limit down to $931 billion, more than $100 billion below the $1.047 trillion discretionary spending cap in the Budget Control Act (PL 112-25). The resolution may also include provisions aimed at limiting the impact of sequestration, the automatic spending cuts scheduled to begin in January of 2013 that would result in just under $100 billion in defense and non-defense discretionary spending reductions.  Any effort to address sequestration through this budget resolution or subsequent legislation will likely come down to a tug-of-war between protection of defense spending vs. protection of entitlements.

Appropriations:  Appropriators in both chambers will hear from a series of Cabinet officials and agency leaders throughout the week, continuing a busy schedule of hearings that have touched on the administration’s FY 2013 budget request as well as its policies.  Among the officials set to testify before Appropriations subcommittees this week are U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan E. Rice, Commerce Secretary John Bryson, Small Business Administration Administrator Karen G. Mills, National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr., Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Congressman Norm Dicks to Retire

Congressman Norm Dicks announced today that he will retire at the end of this session of Congress.  His decision comes as a shock, but after 44 years in public service in Washington, DC, and at age 71, we all can certainly appreciate and understand his desire to spend more time with his wife Suzie, their children, and grandchildren.

Dicks will certainly leave a lasting legacy of Congressional accomplishments unlike nearly any other Member of the House or Senate.  There are very few places in Washington State or even the country that have not been beneficiaries of his fine work — including the University of Washington!

The following statement has been released from UW President Michael Young:

“On behalf of generations of students, faculty and staff at the University of Washington, I want to express our deep gratitude to Congressman Dicks for his lifetime of service to the citizens of Washington and especially for his unwavering support over the many years he served in Congress for higher education and his alma mater. His service to his constituents and his knowledgeable commitment to education have benefited countless numbers of people in the Northwest and beyond, especially his staunch support for protecting the environment and conducting research to understand it better. He also was one of the early supporters of establishing the University of Washington in Tacoma.  He has been a great friend to this University and a special alumnus in whose accomplishments as a public servant we take great pride. It is hard to imagine Washington’s Congressional delegation without him. If ever the phrase ‘well-deserved’ applies to a retirement announcement, this is certainly one of them.”