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House Committee Clears HEA Reauthorization Bill

In a marathon markup session that lasted well into the evening, the House Education and the Workforce Committee cleared yesterday the PROSPER Act (H.R. 4508), its version of the bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA), by a vote 23 to 17.  A copy of the bill is available here.

During the session, approximately 60 amendments were considered.  A write-up of the markup session is available here.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has not yet moved its version of the HEA reauthorization bill.

 

House Out, Senate Still Working

The House is out for a pre-scheduled recess this week — and likely to do a victory lap about passing the AHCA last week — while the Senate continues to move through nominations, Russian investigations, and maybe health care reform.

Also last week, FY 2017 funding is finally secured, and Congress is beginning to take stock of how far behind schedule they are for FY 2018.  There are now only four-and-a-half months left before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 – and that includes the month-long August recess. Typically, at this point in the Congressional calendar, at least one of the 12 standing appropriations bills has been marked up by committee and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are well on their way to drafting the other standing bills.

However, there is no guidance for appropriators on the annual spending limits, which is something set up by the annual budget measurers, which has yet to be passed by the House and Senate. The House took a first step with the AHCA last week, but within hours of the passage of the House legislation, Republican Senators made clear they didn’t support the measure and would begin drafting their own version…and that might take a while…like August. 

President Donald Trump has yet to submit a full FY 2018 budget request, which is typically due in early February. While the President offered an outline of discretionary spending plans in March, his full budget is not likely to come before May 22, and even then, it is unclear how in depth the budget released might be.

Stay tuned.

Senate Clears Omnibus

The Senate passed H.R. 244, the FY 2017 Omnibus appropriations bill today which will fund the government through Sept. 30. The $1.07 trillion legislation now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature. The Senate tally was 79-18 . The omnibus legislation includes the 11 unfinished appropriations bills and intelligence authorization legislation, as well as funding for retired coal miners’ health care, supplemental defense money and funding to avert a Medicaid shortfall in Puerto Rico.

Trump is expected to sign the legislation, which must be enacted before the current continuing resolution expires at midnight Friday

House Passes Omnibus, Senate Next

The House just passed a sweeping FY 2017 Omnibus appropriations bill (H.R.244) to fund the government through Sept. 30. The House is sending the $1.07 trillion spending package over to the Senate for a vote later this week, likely Friday. The House vote was 309-118. The lengthy legislation comprises 11 unfinished appropriations bills, along with an intelligence authorization bill and other provisions.

The White House has formally backed the spending agreement, and the Senate is expected to clear the legislation as soon as Thursday. The bill must pass the Senate and be signed by midnight Friday or government funding under a continuing resolution would expire causing a shutdown.

White House Issues SAP on FY 2017 Omnibus

Today, the White House has issued a Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP) on H.R. 244, the Consolidated Appropriations bill, also known as the FY 2017 Omnibus. While the White House says it is concerned that Congress did not go far enough in funding some priorities, it is a good first step, but priorities should be funded in FY 2018.

Long and short, no veto threat on this bill, but maybe the next one.

Read the SAP here.