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Author: Christy Gullion

One More Day…

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Tomorrow is election day – finally! Regardless of who wins the presidency, he will have to move quickly to find a solution to avert the fiscal cliff that can muster enough votes in a politically divided Congress.  As I’ve been reporting for much of the year, Congress must take action by the end of the calendar year in order to avoid a tax increase of more than $500 billion on nearly 90 percent of Americans.  Unemployment assistance for millions of jobless Americans also would lapse, and physicians treating Medicare patients would see their reimbursement payments cut.  But the most crucial element of the fiscal cliff comes in the more than $100 billion in automatic, across-the-board spending cuts – or the sequester – that is set to take place on January 2, 2013 and would cut spending equally between domestic and defense programs.  Lawmakers in both parties oppose letting sequestration take effect — particularly because of the consequences to the Pentagon — but to date there has been no consensus on how to avert it.

Also looming is the likelihood that the White House will have to ask Congress to raise the debt ceiling again sometime in the first three months of 2013, potentially reigniting the partisan battle that nearly led to a government shutdown in 2011.  The Treasury Department reiterated last week that the government will hit its current debt limit before the end of the year but has the ability to postpone potential default until early next year.  Many hope to deal with this issue during the lame duck session rather than leaving it to the next Congress.

The results of tomorrow’s election will likely determine the eventual outcome of the lame duck session – what issues are tacked and what gets punted to the next Congress.  The Office of Federal Relations will closely monitor and continue to report on the elections outcome and lame duck session.

CR and Sequester Update

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Members of Congress are discussing the possibility of approving a continuing resolution (CR) for the entire fiscal year to avoid partisan political battles and a possible government shutdown. Appropriators continue to press for completing this year’s spending bills in a lame-duck omnibus, but it’s more likely that they will be left for the next Congress. However, leaders in the 113th Congress are likely to be immersed in fights over the debt limit and tax policy next spring and may well opt for another six-month CR that would cover the rest of the fiscal year. The current CR (PL 112-175) expires on March 27, 2013.

On the sequester front, President Obama is speaking with confidence about a “grand bargain” on raising taxes and reducing the deficit that could be reached within six months if he’s re-elected. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, is reiterating his plan to increase defense spending and repeal the 2010 health care overhaul law to help balance the budget. Obama’s allusion to a six-month timeline for a budget agreement suggests that he agrees with many lawmakers and outside observers who say that a large deal will be impossible in a lame-duck session of Congress. Some lawmakers and analysts have said Congress should agree to a small package of budget cuts and establish the framework of a bigger package in the lame duck.

There are just eight days until the election, the result of which will certainly shape the agenda for the lame duck session and early months of the next Congress.

Source:  CQ Budget Tracker

DHS Announces New Honors Program

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Yesterday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced the creation of the Secretary’s Honors Program (SHP), a new initiative to recruit exceptional recent graduates for careers at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Qualified candidates for the SHP compete for a limited number of positions across the Department, and are selected based on their academic performance, experience and other criteria. This premier program includes six different career tracks, and individuals who possess relevant graduate or undergraduate degrees may apply for fellowships related to information technology, cybersecurity, policy, management, emergency management, and law. Those selected for the program will be offered a variety of incentives and enhanced career opportunities including Department rotations, mentorships, focused on-the-job training and inclusion in various professional development programs. Each fellowship lasts one or two years, and participants may have the opportunity to convert to permanent federal positions at DHS.

Higher Ed Agendas Under Obama or Romney

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President Obama’s campaign recently released a brochure detailing how he might approach education issues during a second term. And there are now several articles popping up, including a comprehensive one from Inside Higher Ed, that look as how either an Obama second term or a new President Romney would look like.

Based on his first term, a second Obama term seems likely to bring greater scrutiny and regulation to all aspects of higher education. But the President is equally likely to continue his strong support for federal financial aid programs and his emphasis on college access and completion for low-income students, at least within the constraints of tight federal budgets. A Romney administration would likely propose changes to federal financial aid eligibility and student loan repayment options, but could offer some relief on reporting regulations.

Though they might handle it differently, neither administration is likely to go easy on colleges in terms of accountability. The focus of either administration would certainly be on rising tuition and questions about quality and value.

Sequestration Update

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Even though Congress is in recess until after the November elections, efforts to find a solution to the so-called “fiscal cliff” continue among members of the Senate. A bipartisan effort aimed at avoiding scheduled increases in taxes and automatic, across-the-board spending cuts early next year are taking shape in Senate, with attention focused on replacing the fiscal cliff with an alternative deficit reduction package in the lame-duck session this December. The efforts are focused on establishing a framework for deficit reduction that would replace the scheduled cuts, or sequester, and tax increases before the end of this year and then require the next Congress to come up with alternative spending cuts and revenue increases to tame the deficit in 2013. This effort is led by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Michael Bennet (D-CO).

Despite this and other discussions currently underway, Congress is far from agreement on a deal to prevent sequestration from taking place in January. President Obama reiterated his pledge last week that he would veto any legislation that would allow tax cuts to continue for the wealthiest Americans, while House Republicans have already backed extending all tax cuts through 2013 and support cuts in entitlement spending to avert the sequester. It is still too early to tell what the final outcome might be, but it does seem like everyone at least agrees that the sequester would be bad for the economy and should be avoided. I just worry that the alternative will be just as challenging for research universities.