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Category: Higher Education

Sequester Details

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Schedule: Both the House and Senate are out until Wednesday in observance of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. When they return, the Senate will take action on the 6-month continuing resolution. Both chambers are expected to recess at the end of the week and not return until after the November elections.

OMB Sequester Report: In the report released last Friday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) warns the sequester would be “deeply destructive” to national security, domestic investments, and core government functions. The report outlines some $109 billion in automatic reductions – or sequester – triggered by last year’s debt limit agreement. The automatic cuts would reduce spending over the next decade across more than 1,200 federal accounts starting January 2, 2013, trimming defense by $54.67 billion, domestic discretionary spending by $38 billion, Medicare by $11 billion, and other mandatory spending programs by about $5 billion. The 394-page report estimated the reductions would reduce discretionary defense spending by 9.4 percent and domestic discretionary spending by 8.2 percent. The estimates are calculated based on the level of federal spending in FY2012. Spending in FY2013 is almost sure to be higher since the proposed six-month continuing resolution (CR) increases spending slightly for the fiscal year that begins October 1st.

Sequester and Higher Education: If Congress fails to head off the $109 billion in overall cuts for 2013 before January 2nd – part of $1.2 trillion in required cuts over the next decade through the sequester – most aspects of federal spending relating to higher education would face reductions of either 8.2 percent (for discretionary programs) or 7.6 percent (for mandatory programs), including appropriations to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). NIH, for example, would lose more than $2.5 billion from its more than $30 billion appropriation, a cut of 8.2 percent. The report does not specify how the NIH and other agencies would carry out the reductions internally. In addition to cuts in programs, the law would raise the 1-percent origination fee for unsubsidized Stafford student loans by 7.6 percent, to about 1.1 percent of a total loan. PLUS-loan and unsubsidized-loan fees would rise slightly, from about 4 percent to about 4.3 percent of a total loan. Pell Grants would not be affected by the sequester in the first year.

Congress Talks CR, Appropriations, and Sequester

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FY 2013 Continuing Resolution:  Several Republican lawmakers are advocating for an early vote on a stopgap spending bill for FY 2013 that would keep the government running into early next year, leaving contentious funding decisions for the next Congress. Most believe they are betting that they’ll have more power next year – possible control of the Senate and the White House – and will be in a better position to force deeper spending cuts. In a letter circulated by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), and signed by 20 members of the House and Senate, lawmakers said they would try before the August recess to clear a continuing resolution (CR) at a “fiscally responsible” level that would avert a new standoff over a potential government shutdown in the fall. Conservatives may support at CR at roughly the current annual spending level of $1.043 trillion if it extended into the next session of Congress, offering a temporary cease fire in the House GOP’s current efforts to cut $15 billion from discretionary spending through the FY 2013 appropriations process.  Regardless of this new effort, no decisions are likely before September. Few Democrats are likely to back a CR that extends beyond December. You can read the Republicans letter here.

L-HHS-ED Appropriations:  On Wednesday, the House L-HHS-ED Appropriations Subcommittee approved their FY 2013 draft spending bill mostly along party lines 8-6. The bill would provide a total of $150 billion in discretionary funding, which is $6.3 billion below FY 2012 levels and $8.8 billion less the President’s request. Much of the House panel’s debate centered on the bill’s health provisions and primarily on GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but Democrat’s efforts to restore that funding fell short. Congressman Norm Dicks (D-WA) also offered an amendment that would have removed GOP-supported language that would rescind funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio.   

Sequester:  Also on Wednesday, House lawmakers approved legislation that would force the Administration to detail how automatic budget cuts due early next year would be implemented. The bill (HR 5872) would require the White House to produce a report within 30 days explaining how the $109 billion in cuts scheduled to take effect January 2, 2013 would affect both domestic and defense programs. The Senate passed similar legislation in June, but that plan calls for more detailed reports from the Defense Department, the Office of Management and Budget, and the White House on the cuts. It’s unclear how the issue will be resolved between the House and Senate bills.  The Senate could back the House bill, but it’s unclear if Democrats leaders, who pushed for the version that requires more detail about the impact on domestic cuts, will allow it to come up. Lawmakers would prefer to have a deal in place before the August recess, so they can have the information when they return in September to argue for averting the sequester.

House L-HHS-Ed Mark Up

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The House is likely to mark up their Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill on July 18, although no official announcement has been made. The $150 billion bill is the only one of the 12 annual spending bills not yet approved by House appropriators. At $150 billion, the measure would be about $7 billion below current spending.

The Aftermath…

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Both the House and Senate are in recess this week for the Fourth of July holiday.  Late last week, both chambers demonstrated that they can advance legislation by reauthorizing federal highway and transit programs for two years and preventing Stafford student loan interest rate increases.  Also last week, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Republicans vow to continue to cut or restrict funds to implement the Act, and Democrats encouraged states to move forward on implantation. While some features of the ACA have already been adopted – no denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and adult children can remain on their parents’ plans until the age of 26 – the main feature that mandates that all Americans must purchase some form of health coverage takes effect in 2014.

But the BIG news from last week is the major storm that hit the DC area late Friday night. Winds reached 80 MPH with intense thunder and lightning, leaving massive power outages and other storm damage throughout the region – mostly downed trees and power lines. Hundreds of traffic lights are still out and a half-million homes are still without power with outages expected to continue in some areas through the end of the week. This might not be so bad if the temperature wasn’t expected to be in the 90s all week!  Federal workers have the option to take unscheduled leave due to this mess, but if I were without power I would make my way into my air conditioned office post haste!

You’ll be happy to know that the dedicated Office of Federal Relations Team made it through the storm unscathed – all our homes had power over the weekend – and we all made our way into the office this morning. Happy Monday!