The Department of Education (ED) is currently accepting applications for fall internships for those interested in education policy research and analysis, intergovernmental relations and public affairs, work with social media while learning about the role Federal Government plays in education, or similar areas. Interns will develop a variety of other skills, including writing, researching, communication, and time-management skills, and will also participate in group intern events, such as brown-bag lunches with ED officials, movie nights, and local tours. And, you’ll get to spend fall in historic Washington, DC with all that the city and region have to offer!
Month: June 2013
Senate Moves to Add Student Loans Fix to Farm Bill
The Senate continues to consider the Farm Bill this week. More than 200 amendments are pending consideration to the Farm Bill, including S953, known as the Reed, Harkin, Reid, Murray bill which would would increase taxes on multinational corporations to pay for a two-year extension for student loans at 3.4 percent. Senate Democratic leadership added the measure as an amendment last Friday.
Although it is not guaranteed to be considered as an amendment to the Farm Bill this week, the Senate will likely hold side-by-side votes on Reed’s plan and a House-passed Republican measure (HR1911) that the House passed last week which would peg the interest rates to the 10-year Treasury note. Each vote would require a 60-vote threshold for passage. It is expected that both measures would likely fail, thus increasing the pressure on the sides to develop a compromise.
Last Friday, Obama has blasted the House-passed bill, saying the legislation could saddle students with more debt than if rates are allowed to double to 6.8 percent on July 1, as scheduled.
The Office of Federal Relations will continue tracking this issue as it continues to develop.
This Week in Congress
An overview of relevant House and Senate committee hearings and markups on the schedule this week:
TUESDAY, June 4th
Senate Appropriations
2014 Appropriations: Transportation, HUD
Subcommittee Hearing
2:30 pm, 138 Dirksen
House Science, Space, & Technology
STEM Education Reorganization
Full Committee Hearing
2 pm, 2318 Rayburn
WEDNESDAY, June 5th
Senate Appropriations
2014 Appropriations: Defense
Subcommittee Hearing
10 am, 192 Dirksen
Senate Appropriations
2014 Appropriations: Labor, HHS, Education
Subcommittee Hearing
10 am, 138 Dirksen
Senate Veterans’ Affairs
Veterans Benefits Legislation
Full Committee Hearing
10 am, 418 Russell
House Armed Services
Defense Authorization
Full Committee Markup
10 am, 2118 Rayburn
THURSDAY, June 6th
Senate Appropriations
2014 Appropriations: Commerce, Justice, Science
Subcommittee Hearing
10 am, 192 Dirksen
September Stalemate on FY14 Appropriations
Members of Congress return to DC this week to take on the farm bill, try to keep student loan interest rates from doubling on July 1st, and continue with the FY14 appropriations process. And while immigration reform is still being debated, some are now skeptical that the House and Senate can come get to a compromise.
FY14 Appropriations
The path to enacting FY14 appropriations measures is paved with legislative friction as Congress is showing no signs of undoing the sequester. At this point, there are three budgets — House, Senate, and White House — all of which assume no sequestration, but include different ways to account for the cuts in later years. House Republicans would meet the overall cap but ignore the mandated split between security and non-security spending. Senate Democrats would use a higher overall level. And the White House budget request also ignores the overall cap. This is all leading up to a September stalemate as the current fiscal year comes to a close on September 30th.
Meanwhile, House Appropriations subcommittees approved their first two spending bills before Memorial Day (Homeland Security and Military Construction/Veterans Affairs), each with just a slight increase over current levels. These slight increases, along with spending increases expected in the soon-to-be-considered Defense bill, won’t leave much for the remaining non-defense bills – including the Labor-HHS-ED bill – which will have to take significant cuts to reach post-sequester levels as outlined by the 302(b) allocations approved in the House last month.
The Senate hasn’t approved its 302(b) allocations nor released any spending bills, but we expect to see Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Senator Mikulski (D-MD) move forward with FY 2014 using a top line spending number that assumes the sequester has been replaced.
FY15 Budget Process Underway
In Washington, DC there are usually three budget cycles ongoing at any given time. Right now, federal agencies are spending FY13 money; Congress is working to approve spending levels for FY14, which starts on October 1st; and federal agencies are beginning to build their FY15 budget requests. To guide this process, the White House released its annual guidance memo last week. This guidance memo noted that the President still hopes to replace the sequester with a combination of spending cuts and changes in entitlements and the tax code. But OMB Director Burwell effectively told agencies to plan for sequester by asking them for proposals that “reflect a 5 percent reduction below the net discretionary total provided for your agency for 2015 in the 2014 budget” as well as a plan that would double that reduction in 2015 to 10 percent. Agency budget requests will be submitted to the White House later this fall and ultimately combine to form the President’s budget delivered to Congress (usually) in early February.