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Senate Fails to Pass Homeland Security Spending Bill

The Senate failed to evoke cloture and pass the Department of Homeland Security spending bill for FY15. In an ironic twist, Senate Democrats used procedural maneuvers they so railed against in previous congressed to block the measure from moving forward. The 46 Senate Democrats banded together to block the bill from coming to the Senate floor for consideration. To consider the measure by the Senate 60 votes are needed, and the measure failed by a vote of 51-46.

The House passed the $39.7 billion measure (HR 240) earlier this year to fund the Department of Homeland Security. The House measure also contained several controversial provisions to block the Administration’s new immigration policy announced in November 2014.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is expected to try and bring the bill up again later this week. However, there is no clear path forward to funding the Department of Homeland Security for FY15 and addressing the Executive Order which Republicans see as a gross overstep of Executive Power. Republicans see combing the two as the best path forward, while Senate Democrats are insisting they will only pass a clean appropriations bill.

 

Pell Grant Levels Announced

The Department of Education announced the maximum Pell grant levels for 2015-2016 today. The agency said the maximum award amount will be $5,775, which is an increase of $45 over the 2014-2015 award maximum.

The amount is affected by the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), which was incorporated as part of Public Law 111-152. SAFRA provides for an automatic annual increase, based on changes in the Consumer Price Index—through award year 2017-2018—to the appropriated Federal Pell Grant maximum award. This change has resulted in a 2015-2016 maximum award of $5,775. The corresponding maximum Pell Grant eligible expected family contribution (EFC) for 2015-2016 will be 5198.

Read the announcement here.

Senate Passes FY15 Appropriations

In a very rare weekend session, the Senate voted 56-40 late Saturday evening to pass the FY15 $1.1 trillion spending package that funds most of the government through next September. As previously discussed in this blog, the package includes 11 appropriations bills that fund most of the government through Sept. 30 and a continuing resolution (CR) funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through Feb. 27.

The bill nearly died in the House earlier last week after House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a rising star among her party’s liberal base, urged House Democrats to oppose it. Regardless, the package narrowly passed the House on Thursday night in a 219-206 vote after Obama hit the phones to quell a Democratic uprising against it.

Notable Senators voting against the legislation include several Republican and Democratic senators rumored to have presidential ambitions such as Rand Paul (R-KY), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

The vote culminates a week of acrimonious posturing in both the House and Senate and sends the spending bill to President Obama’s desk for a signature.

The House has recessed for the year and the Senate is expect to recess this week. Both bodies of Congress will reconvene in January 2015 to swear in the new 114th Congress.

‘Cromnibus’ Advances to the Senate

The House yesterday approved the FY2015 ‘cromnibus’ bill funding all areas of federal government through September 30, 2015 except for Homeland Security, which is subject to a continuing resolution (CR) through February 2, 2015. The House vote as close – 219 to 206 – and delayed several hours as GOP leaders worked their members to support the massive $1.1 billion year-end spending package.

The House and Senate also both passed a two-day stopgap spending measure to avoid a government shutdown, as the current CR was set to expire midnight Thursday. The Senate will take at least a day to process and vote on the so-called cromnibus before sending it to the President, who has said he will sign it into law. That vote could come as early as this afternoon but could also stretch into early next week. If that happens, another short-term CR will be necessary.

The fiscal 2014 and 2015 omnibuses were largely a result of the 2013 budget deal that set domestic and defense spending caps and created the sequester if Congress did not adhere to those caps. No similar deal is in place for next year, and a GOP-controlled Congress will have less incentive to make such a deal with Democrats.