After a marathon markup that ran late into the evening, the House Republicans passed the bill out of the Budget Committee along a party line vote this morning. Late last night, the House Republican caucus seemed sharply divided between defense hawks and those committed to cutting spending.
According to an analysis from the Committee for Education Funding, the House Republicans’ proposed 2016 budget would make cuts to student aid that are deeper than meets the eye and would hurt funding for major education programs. The budget would eliminate expansions to the income-based repayment program, public sector loan forgiveness and in-school interest subsidies for undergraduate Stafford loans. The three changes, in addition to cuts to the Pell Grant program, would add up to tens of billions of dollars in federal savings.
The House budget also plans changes to non-defense discretionary spending in future years that will squeeze other education programs, which will more than likley lead to cuts to Head Start, Title I, IDEA and other programs.