Legislative Affairs

In addition to passing a budget reconciliation package and bipartisan infrastructure bill by the end of this month, Congress has two other fiscal policy priorities on their agenda during this time: 1) Pass FY22 funding legislation to prevent a government shutdown, and 2) Address the national debt limit.

FY22 Appropriations: The federal fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30. The current (FY21) fiscal year ends this month and FY22 will begin October 1, 2021. Since Congress has not completed its regular appropriations work (due to focusing on other priorities like reconciliation and infrastructure), lawmakers will need to pass a "continuing resolution" (CR) to prevent a shutdown. A CR would extend the deadline to pass a proper FY22 spending package and fund federal agencies and programs on auto-pilot (flat-funding) to keep the government open (likely through this December).

(Where is Congress currently in its regular appropriations process? The House has passed 9 of its 12 spending bills, but the Senate Appropriations Committee has only passed 3 bills so far. For education funding, the House passed its L-HHS-ED spending bill in July with significant investments in ED programs, but the Senate has yet to pass an equivalent bill.)

Understanding that a stopgap funding bill would be necessary, the Biden administration also asked Congress to tack billions of dollars in additional funding onto the CR to address immediate military and humanitarian needs regarding U.S.' withdrawal from Afghanistan and recovery from Hurricane Ida. It remains to be seen whether Congress will approve these additional requests and pass a CR by the September 30 deadline as lawmakers' concerns about excessive federal spending continue to grow.


Debt Limit: As Congress considers the budget reconciliation package, infrastructure bill, CR (and the eventual final FY22 appropriations package)-lawmakers will also need to vote on whether to raise or suspend the national debt ceiling to address its current obligations or face a default. (The debt ceiling is a legal cap on how much money the U.S. can borrow.)

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the government will run out of cash by this fall unless it raises the debt limit. POLITICO explains that if the debt ceiling isn't raised or suspended, the U.S. would default on its bond investors, its credit rating could tank, the government would be forced to scale back on Medicare, Social Security, and other programs; and it could spur another financial crisis. (Note the government has never defaulted before, so it's likely Congress will try to avert this but we don't know how much or how long the limit would be suspended/raised for.) More than likely, Democrats will try to add language to the CR bill to raise or suspend the debt limit, tying the need to raise the ceiling with averting a shutdown to pressure fiscal conservatives to pass the bill.

Needless to say, Congress' fiscal agenda is stacked for the coming weeks and will have many implications for education funding and our overall economic recovery, so please stay tuned for further updates on these issues in the Legislative Affairs Community.

This week, House Democrats passed a stopgap funding bill (continuing resolution, or CR) to avert a federal shutdown before the 2021 federal fiscal year (FY21) ends in 8 days. The CR would extend funding through December 3, suspend the national debt ceiling until September 2022, and includes emergency funding for disaster relief and resettlement assistance for displaced Afghan populations.

However, as things currently stand, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that the CR is unlikely to pass the Senate. Congress is struggling to agree on how to extend government funding as it continues to work through its full-year FY22 appropriations bills. The bill requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate (to end a potential filibuster), but Republicans have vowed not to support an increase in or suspension of the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling will need to be addressed within the next month or the U.S. will no longer be able to borrow and begin to default on its obligations, with serious economic repercussions. Senate Republicans released their own CR which does not address the debt ceiling and contains foreign aid funding that progressive Democrats oppose.

Notably, for schools, both the House Democrat and Senate Republican CR proposals would allow funding levels for federal K-12 programs to continue at FY21 levels until Congress passes an FY22 appropriations package later this year. And, they include language to extend the USDA's waiver authority for child nutrition programs during COVID-19 until June 30 2022, to apply for the 2021-2022 school year (should additional program flexibilities need to be granted). However, with lawmakers at a standstill, it is unclear how things will turn out even though neither side wishes to see a government shutdown on October 1.

Regarding the two other items on Congress agenda--passing a budget reconciliation and a bipartisan infrastructure package-progressive and moderate Democrats continue to disagree on the timing and order for voting on each bill. House leadership previously committed to bringing the infrastructure bill to the floor for a vote by Monday, September 27. However, progressives won't vote for that bill unless they can also vote for the reconciliation bill, which will not be ready by then (reconciliation is likely weeks away from being finished as Democrats negotiate behind the scenes to pare back the size of the package to ensure it will pass). Learn more about what's in the reconciliation bill for schools here.

In addition to passing a budget reconciliation package and bipartisan infrastructure bill by the end of this month, Congress has two other fiscal policy priorities on their agenda during this time: 1) Pass FY22 funding legislation to prevent a government shutdown, and 2) Address the national debt limit.

FY22 Appropriations: The federal fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30. The current (FY21) fiscal year ends this month and FY22 will begin October 1, 2021. Since Congress has not completed its regular appropriations work (due to focusing on other priorities like reconciliation and infrastructure), lawmakers will need to pass a "continuing resolution" (CR) to prevent a shutdown. A CR would extend the deadline to pass a proper FY22 spending package and fund federal agencies and programs on auto-pilot (flat-funding) to keep the government open (likely through this December).

(Where is Congress currently in its regular appropriations process? The House has passed 9 of its 12 spending bills, but the Senate Appropriations Committee has only passed 3 bills so far. For education funding, the House passed its L-HHS-ED spending bill in July with significant investments in ED programs, but the Senate has yet to pass an equivalent bill.)

Understanding that a stopgap funding bill would be necessary, the Biden administration also asked Congress to tack billions of dollars in additional funding onto the CR to address immediate military and humanitarian needs regarding U.S.' withdrawal from Afghanistan and recovery from Hurricane Ida. It remains to be seen whether Congress will approve these additional requests and pass a CR by the September 30 deadline as lawmakers' concerns about excessive federal spending continue to grow.


Debt Limit: As Congress considers the budget reconciliation package, infrastructure bill, CR (and the eventual final FY22 appropriations package)-lawmakers will also need to vote on whether to raise or suspend the national debt ceiling to address its current obligations or face a default. (The debt ceiling is a legal cap on how much money the U.S. can borrow.)

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the government will run out of cash by this fall unless it raises the debt limit. POLITICO explains that if the debt ceiling isn't raised or suspended, the U.S. would default on its bond investors, its credit rating could tank, the government would be forced to scale back on Medicare, Social Security, and other programs; and it could spur another financial crisis. (Note the government has never defaulted before, so it's likely Congress will try to avert this but we don't know how much or how long the limit would be suspended/raised for.) More than likely, Democrats will try to add language to the CR bill to raise or suspend the debt limit, tying the need to raise the ceiling with averting a shutdown to pressure fiscal conservatives to pass the bill.

Needless to say, Congress' fiscal agenda is stacked for the coming weeks and will have many implications for education funding and our overall economic recovery, so please stay tuned for further updates on these issues in the Legislative Affairs Community.

Budget Reconciliation & Infrastructure Update:
This week, House Speaker Pelosi has decided to decouple passing a budget reconciliation package with a separate bipartisan infrastructure bill, reneging on a deal made with progressive Democrats to try to pass both pieces of legislation on the same time/track. POLITICO reports that Speaker Pelosi and President Biden are continuing to work with the Senate to pass the budget reconciliation bill, "but the House must move ahead on infrastructure this week before surface transportation funding expires Thursday."

If an infrastructure bill is passed first, it is likely that the budget reconciliation bill will be significantly pared down from its original $3.5 trillion price tag in order to pass the Senate. Progressive Democrats would lose leverage to negotiate a more expensive reconciliation bill since they were intending to use their votes to pass the infrastructure bill in exchange for ensuring moderates approve their progressive policies and the higher price tag for the reconciliation bill. (However, this strategy falls apart if the bills are passed separately.) As such, progressive Democrats are rejecting Pelosi's decision and refusing to vote on the infrastructure bill, leaving it up to moderate Democrats and Republicans to provide the sufficient votes needed to ensure it passes. A vote on the infrastructure package is scheduled for Thursday.


CR Funding/Shutdown and Debt Ceiling Update:
Congress has until October 18 to raise or suspend the debt ceiling to ensure the U.S. Treasury can continue paying its debt obligations. If the ceiling isn't raised, the nation will go into default and everything from Social Security checks, Child Tax Credit payments, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and other federal benefits could be frozen. Earlier this week, Senate Republicans blocked Democrats from a procedural vote to advance a stopgap funding bill (CR) to prevent a federal shutdown because it included language to also extend the debt ceiling which they want to be delinked from the bill, and now Democrats are trying to figure out another path through (learn more here). It is possible that tomorrow's vote on the infrastructure bill may be delayed to force lawmakers' hands to pass a stopgap funding bill that raises the debt ceiling first, but negotiations are still underway. Stay tuned to this thread for more updates.

This week, House Democrats passed a stopgap funding bill (continuing resolution, or CR) to avert a federal shutdown before the 2021 federal fiscal year (FY21) ends in 8 days. The CR would extend funding through December 3, suspend the national debt ceiling until September 2022, and includes emergency funding for disaster relief and resettlement assistance for displaced Afghan populations.

However, as things currently stand, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that the CR is unlikely to pass the Senate. Congress is struggling to agree on how to extend government funding as it continues to work through its full-year FY22 appropriations bills. The bill requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate (to end a potential filibuster), but Republicans have vowed not to support an increase in or suspension of the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling will need to be addressed within the next month or the U.S. will no longer be able to borrow and begin to default on its obligations, with serious economic repercussions. Senate Republicans released their own CR which does not address the debt ceiling and contains foreign aid funding that progressive Democrats oppose.

Notably, for schools, both the House Democrat and Senate Republican CR proposals would allow funding levels for federal K-12 programs to continue at FY21 levels until Congress passes an FY22 appropriations package later this year. And, they include language to extend the USDA's waiver authority for child nutrition programs during COVID-19 until June 30 2022, to apply for the 2021-2022 school year (should additional program flexibilities need to be granted). However, with lawmakers at a standstill, it is unclear how things will turn out even though neither side wishes to see a government shutdown on October 1.

Regarding the two other items on Congress agenda--passing a budget reconciliation and a bipartisan infrastructure package-progressive and moderate Democrats continue to disagree on the timing and order for voting on each bill. House leadership previously committed to bringing the infrastructure bill to the floor for a vote by Monday, September 27. However, progressives won't vote for that bill unless they can also vote for the reconciliation bill, which will not be ready by then (reconciliation is likely weeks away from being finished as Democrats negotiate behind the scenes to pare back the size of the package to ensure it will pass). Learn more about what's in the reconciliation bill for schools here.

In addition to passing a budget reconciliation package and bipartisan infrastructure bill by the end of this month, Congress has two other fiscal policy priorities on their agenda during this time: 1) Pass FY22 funding legislation to prevent a government shutdown, and 2) Address the national debt limit.

FY22 Appropriations: The federal fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30. The current (FY21) fiscal year ends this month and FY22 will begin October 1, 2021. Since Congress has not completed its regular appropriations work (due to focusing on other priorities like reconciliation and infrastructure), lawmakers will need to pass a "continuing resolution" (CR) to prevent a shutdown. A CR would extend the deadline to pass a proper FY22 spending package and fund federal agencies and programs on auto-pilot (flat-funding) to keep the government open (likely through this December).

(Where is Congress currently in its regular appropriations process? The House has passed 9 of its 12 spending bills, but the Senate Appropriations Committee has only passed 3 bills so far. For education funding, the House passed its L-HHS-ED spending bill in July with significant investments in ED programs, but the Senate has yet to pass an equivalent bill.)

Understanding that a stopgap funding bill would be necessary, the Biden administration also asked Congress to tack billions of dollars in additional funding onto the CR to address immediate military and humanitarian needs regarding U.S.' withdrawal from Afghanistan and recovery from Hurricane Ida. It remains to be seen whether Congress will approve these additional requests and pass a CR by the September 30 deadline as lawmakers' concerns about excessive federal spending continue to grow.


Debt Limit: As Congress considers the budget reconciliation package, infrastructure bill, CR (and the eventual final FY22 appropriations package)-lawmakers will also need to vote on whether to raise or suspend the national debt ceiling to address its current obligations or face a default. (The debt ceiling is a legal cap on how much money the U.S. can borrow.)

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the government will run out of cash by this fall unless it raises the debt limit. POLITICO explains that if the debt ceiling isn't raised or suspended, the U.S. would default on its bond investors, its credit rating could tank, the government would be forced to scale back on Medicare, Social Security, and other programs; and it could spur another financial crisis. (Note the government has never defaulted before, so it's likely Congress will try to avert this but we don't know how much or how long the limit would be suspended/raised for.) More than likely, Democrats will try to add language to the CR bill to raise or suspend the debt limit, tying the need to raise the ceiling with averting a shutdown to pressure fiscal conservatives to pass the bill.

Needless to say, Congress' fiscal agenda is stacked for the coming weeks and will have many implications for education funding and our overall economic recovery, so please stay tuned for further updates on these issues in the Legislative Affairs Community.

Today the Senate passed a stopgap funding bill to prevent a government shutdown at midnight tonight after language was removed to extend the debt ceiling. The bill will now go to the House, where it is expected to pass and clear President Biden's desk before the deadline. It will fund federal agencies through December 3, buying time for lawmakers to pass a full FY22 appropriations package. In the meantime, Congress will need to figure out a new strategy to address the debt ceiling, and a vote may be scheduled as early as next week.

Also, today the House is expected to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but whether it will pass remains uncertain. Progressive Democrats disapprove of delinking this bill from voting on budget reconciliation and are concerned about recent news regarding a deal Sen. Manchin (D-WV) proposed to Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) this summer to limit the cost of the budget reconciliation bill to $1.5 trillion, far below the original $3.5 trillion price tag. POLITICO reports that while "House progressives are ready to tank the Senate's bipartisan infrastructure bill" if brought for a vote today, the White House is hoping those threats will pressure moderates to come to the table and agree to "Biden's multitrillion-dollar social spending bill."

Budget Reconciliation & Infrastructure Update:
This week, House Speaker Pelosi has decided to decouple passing a budget reconciliation package with a separate bipartisan infrastructure bill, reneging on a deal made with progressive Democrats to try to pass both pieces of legislation on the same time/track. POLITICO reports that Speaker Pelosi and President Biden are continuing to work with the Senate to pass the budget reconciliation bill, "but the House must move ahead on infrastructure this week before surface transportation funding expires Thursday."

If an infrastructure bill is passed first, it is likely that the budget reconciliation bill will be significantly pared down from its original $3.5 trillion price tag in order to pass the Senate. Progressive Democrats would lose leverage to negotiate a more expensive reconciliation bill since they were intending to use their votes to pass the infrastructure bill in exchange for ensuring moderates approve their progressive policies and the higher price tag for the reconciliation bill. (However, this strategy falls apart if the bills are passed separately.) As such, progressive Democrats are rejecting Pelosi's decision and refusing to vote on the infrastructure bill, leaving it up to moderate Democrats and Republicans to provide the sufficient votes needed to ensure it passes. A vote on the infrastructure package is scheduled for Thursday.


CR Funding/Shutdown and Debt Ceiling Update:
Congress has until October 18 to raise or suspend the debt ceiling to ensure the U.S. Treasury can continue paying its debt obligations. If the ceiling isn't raised, the nation will go into default and everything from Social Security checks, Child Tax Credit payments, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and other federal benefits could be frozen. Earlier this week, Senate Republicans blocked Democrats from a procedural vote to advance a stopgap funding bill (CR) to prevent a federal shutdown because it included language to also extend the debt ceiling which they want to be delinked from the bill, and now Democrats are trying to figure out another path through (learn more here). It is possible that tomorrow's vote on the infrastructure bill may be delayed to force lawmakers' hands to pass a stopgap funding bill that raises the debt ceiling first, but negotiations are still underway. Stay tuned to this thread for more updates.

This week, House Democrats passed a stopgap funding bill (continuing resolution, or CR) to avert a federal shutdown before the 2021 federal fiscal year (FY21) ends in 8 days. The CR would extend funding through December 3, suspend the national debt ceiling until September 2022, and includes emergency funding for disaster relief and resettlement assistance for displaced Afghan populations.

However, as things currently stand, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that the CR is unlikely to pass the Senate. Congress is struggling to agree on how to extend government funding as it continues to work through its full-year FY22 appropriations bills. The bill requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate (to end a potential filibuster), but Republicans have vowed not to support an increase in or suspension of the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling will need to be addressed within the next month or the U.S. will no longer be able to borrow and begin to default on its obligations, with serious economic repercussions. Senate Republicans released their own CR which does not address the debt ceiling and contains foreign aid funding that progressive Democrats oppose.

Notably, for schools, both the House Democrat and Senate Republican CR proposals would allow funding levels for federal K-12 programs to continue at FY21 levels until Congress passes an FY22 appropriations package later this year. And, they include language to extend the USDA's waiver authority for child nutrition programs during COVID-19 until June 30 2022, to apply for the 2021-2022 school year (should additional program flexibilities need to be granted). However, with lawmakers at a standstill, it is unclear how things will turn out even though neither side wishes to see a government shutdown on October 1.

Regarding the two other items on Congress agenda--passing a budget reconciliation and a bipartisan infrastructure package-progressive and moderate Democrats continue to disagree on the timing and order for voting on each bill. House leadership previously committed to bringing the infrastructure bill to the floor for a vote by Monday, September 27. However, progressives won't vote for that bill unless they can also vote for the reconciliation bill, which will not be ready by then (reconciliation is likely weeks away from being finished as Democrats negotiate behind the scenes to pare back the size of the package to ensure it will pass). Learn more about what's in the reconciliation bill for schools here.

In addition to passing a budget reconciliation package and bipartisan infrastructure bill by the end of this month, Congress has two other fiscal policy priorities on their agenda during this time: 1) Pass FY22 funding legislation to prevent a government shutdown, and 2) Address the national debt limit.

FY22 Appropriations: The federal fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30. The current (FY21) fiscal year ends this month and FY22 will begin October 1, 2021. Since Congress has not completed its regular appropriations work (due to focusing on other priorities like reconciliation and infrastructure), lawmakers will need to pass a "continuing resolution" (CR) to prevent a shutdown. A CR would extend the deadline to pass a proper FY22 spending package and fund federal agencies and programs on auto-pilot (flat-funding) to keep the government open (likely through this December).

(Where is Congress currently in its regular appropriations process? The House has passed 9 of its 12 spending bills, but the Senate Appropriations Committee has only passed 3 bills so far. For education funding, the House passed its L-HHS-ED spending bill in July with significant investments in ED programs, but the Senate has yet to pass an equivalent bill.)

Understanding that a stopgap funding bill would be necessary, the Biden administration also asked Congress to tack billions of dollars in additional funding onto the CR to address immediate military and humanitarian needs regarding U.S.' withdrawal from Afghanistan and recovery from Hurricane Ida. It remains to be seen whether Congress will approve these additional requests and pass a CR by the September 30 deadline as lawmakers' concerns about excessive federal spending continue to grow.


Debt Limit: As Congress considers the budget reconciliation package, infrastructure bill, CR (and the eventual final FY22 appropriations package)-lawmakers will also need to vote on whether to raise or suspend the national debt ceiling to address its current obligations or face a default. (The debt ceiling is a legal cap on how much money the U.S. can borrow.)

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the government will run out of cash by this fall unless it raises the debt limit. POLITICO explains that if the debt ceiling isn't raised or suspended, the U.S. would default on its bond investors, its credit rating could tank, the government would be forced to scale back on Medicare, Social Security, and other programs; and it could spur another financial crisis. (Note the government has never defaulted before, so it's likely Congress will try to avert this but we don't know how much or how long the limit would be suspended/raised for.) More than likely, Democrats will try to add language to the CR bill to raise or suspend the debt limit, tying the need to raise the ceiling with averting a shutdown to pressure fiscal conservatives to pass the bill.

Needless to say, Congress' fiscal agenda is stacked for the coming weeks and will have many implications for education funding and our overall economic recovery, so please stay tuned for further updates on these issues in the Legislative Affairs Community.

Today the Senate passed a stopgap funding bill to prevent a government shutdown at midnight tonight after language was removed to extend the debt ceiling. The bill will now go to the House, where it is expected to pass and clear President Biden's desk before the deadline. It will fund federal agencies through December 3, buying time for lawmakers to pass a full FY22 appropriations package. In the meantime, Congress will need to figure out a new strategy to address the debt ceiling, and a vote may be scheduled as early as next week.

Also, today the House is expected to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but whether it will pass remains uncertain. Progressive Democrats disapprove of delinking this bill from voting on budget reconciliation and are concerned about recent news regarding a deal Sen. Manchin (D-WV) proposed to Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) this summer to limit the cost of the budget reconciliation bill to $1.5 trillion, far below the original $3.5 trillion price tag. POLITICO reports that while "House progressives are ready to tank the Senate's bipartisan infrastructure bill" if brought for a vote today, the White House is hoping those threats will pressure moderates to come to the table and agree to "Biden's multitrillion-dollar social spending bill."

Budget Reconciliation & Infrastructure Update:
This week, House Speaker Pelosi has decided to decouple passing a budget reconciliation package with a separate bipartisan infrastructure bill, reneging on a deal made with progressive Democrats to try to pass both pieces of legislation on the same time/track. POLITICO reports that Speaker Pelosi and President Biden are continuing to work with the Senate to pass the budget reconciliation bill, "but the House must move ahead on infrastructure this week before surface transportation funding expires Thursday."

If an infrastructure bill is passed first, it is likely that the budget reconciliation bill will be significantly pared down from its original $3.5 trillion price tag in order to pass the Senate. Progressive Democrats would lose leverage to negotiate a more expensive reconciliation bill since they were intending to use their votes to pass the infrastructure bill in exchange for ensuring moderates approve their progressive policies and the higher price tag for the reconciliation bill. (However, this strategy falls apart if the bills are passed separately.) As such, progressive Democrats are rejecting Pelosi's decision and refusing to vote on the infrastructure bill, leaving it up to moderate Democrats and Republicans to provide the sufficient votes needed to ensure it passes. A vote on the infrastructure package is scheduled for Thursday.


CR Funding/Shutdown and Debt Ceiling Update:
Congress has until October 18 to raise or suspend the debt ceiling to ensure the U.S. Treasury can continue paying its debt obligations. If the ceiling isn't raised, the nation will go into default and everything from Social Security checks, Child Tax Credit payments, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and other federal benefits could be frozen. Earlier this week, Senate Republicans blocked Democrats from a procedural vote to advance a stopgap funding bill (CR) to prevent a federal shutdown because it included language to also extend the debt ceiling which they want to be delinked from the bill, and now Democrats are trying to figure out another path through (learn more here). It is possible that tomorrow's vote on the infrastructure bill may be delayed to force lawmakers' hands to pass a stopgap funding bill that raises the debt ceiling first, but negotiations are still underway. Stay tuned to this thread for more updates.

This week, House Democrats passed a stopgap funding bill (continuing resolution, or CR) to avert a federal shutdown before the 2021 federal fiscal year (FY21) ends in 8 days. The CR would extend funding through December 3, suspend the national debt ceiling until September 2022, and includes emergency funding for disaster relief and resettlement assistance for displaced Afghan populations.

However, as things currently stand, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that the CR is unlikely to pass the Senate. Congress is struggling to agree on how to extend government funding as it continues to work through its full-year FY22 appropriations bills. The bill requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate (to end a potential filibuster), but Republicans have vowed not to support an increase in or suspension of the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling will need to be addressed within the next month or the U.S. will no longer be able to borrow and begin to default on its obligations, with serious economic repercussions. Senate Republicans released their own CR which does not address the debt ceiling and contains foreign aid funding that progressive Democrats oppose.

Notably, for schools, both the House Democrat and Senate Republican CR proposals would allow funding levels for federal K-12 programs to continue at FY21 levels until Congress passes an FY22 appropriations package later this year. And, they include language to extend the USDA's waiver authority for child nutrition programs during COVID-19 until June 30 2022, to apply for the 2021-2022 school year (should additional program flexibilities need to be granted). However, with lawmakers at a standstill, it is unclear how things will turn out even though neither side wishes to see a government shutdown on October 1.

Regarding the two other items on Congress agenda--passing a budget reconciliation and a bipartisan infrastructure package-progressive and moderate Democrats continue to disagree on the timing and order for voting on each bill. House leadership previously committed to bringing the infrastructure bill to the floor for a vote by Monday, September 27. However, progressives won't vote for that bill unless they can also vote for the reconciliation bill, which will not be ready by then (reconciliation is likely weeks away from being finished as Democrats negotiate behind the scenes to pare back the size of the package to ensure it will pass). Learn more about what's in the reconciliation bill for schools here.

In addition to passing a budget reconciliation package and bipartisan infrastructure bill by the end of this month, Congress has two other fiscal policy priorities on their agenda during this time: 1) Pass FY22 funding legislation to prevent a government shutdown, and 2) Address the national debt limit.

FY22 Appropriations: The federal fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30. The current (FY21) fiscal year ends this month and FY22 will begin October 1, 2021. Since Congress has not completed its regular appropriations work (due to focusing on other priorities like reconciliation and infrastructure), lawmakers will need to pass a "continuing resolution" (CR) to prevent a shutdown. A CR would extend the deadline to pass a proper FY22 spending package and fund federal agencies and programs on auto-pilot (flat-funding) to keep the government open (likely through this December).

(Where is Congress currently in its regular appropriations process? The House has passed 9 of its 12 spending bills, but the Senate Appropriations Committee has only passed 3 bills so far. For education funding, the House passed its L-HHS-ED spending bill in July with significant investments in ED programs, but the Senate has yet to pass an equivalent bill.)

Understanding that a stopgap funding bill would be necessary, the Biden administration also asked Congress to tack billions of dollars in additional funding onto the CR to address immediate military and humanitarian needs regarding U.S.' withdrawal from Afghanistan and recovery from Hurricane Ida. It remains to be seen whether Congress will approve these additional requests and pass a CR by the September 30 deadline as lawmakers' concerns about excessive federal spending continue to grow.


Debt Limit: As Congress considers the budget reconciliation package, infrastructure bill, CR (and the eventual final FY22 appropriations package)-lawmakers will also need to vote on whether to raise or suspend the national debt ceiling to address its current obligations or face a default. (The debt ceiling is a legal cap on how much money the U.S. can borrow.)

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the government will run out of cash by this fall unless it raises the debt limit. POLITICO explains that if the debt ceiling isn't raised or suspended, the U.S. would default on its bond investors, its credit rating could tank, the government would be forced to scale back on Medicare, Social Security, and other programs; and it could spur another financial crisis. (Note the government has never defaulted before, so it's likely Congress will try to avert this but we don't know how much or how long the limit would be suspended/raised for.) More than likely, Democrats will try to add language to the CR bill to raise or suspend the debt limit, tying the need to raise the ceiling with averting a shutdown to pressure fiscal conservatives to pass the bill.

Needless to say, Congress' fiscal agenda is stacked for the coming weeks and will have many implications for education funding and our overall economic recovery, so please stay tuned for further updates on these issues in the Legislative Affairs Community.

Debt Ceiling and Continuing Resolution (CR)
Last week, President Biden signed a bill granting a short-term extension of the debt ceiling, which is expected to ensure the government can pay its obligations through early December. Around the same time (December 3), Congress will need to pass a FY22 appropriations package to keep agencies funded and running, so lawmakers will be working on appropriations bills to avert a shutdown in the coming weeks. Depending on Congressional gridlock, it is not yet clear whether we will see a full-year CR passed for the remainder of FY22, or if lawmakers will manage to pass an actual FY22 appropriations omnibus bill.

FY22 Appropriations Update
This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee released the nine remaining FY22 appropriations bills, including funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (L-HHS-ED). See the Senate's L-HHS-ED Appropriations bill text here, a committee summary here, and an explanatory statement here about why the committee chose to fund programs as they did (pp. 361-370 covers ED programs toward the end of the document).

The Committee for Education Funding (CEF) created a table (attached here) that compares federal education program funding levels from FYs 2018-2021, and for FY 2022 it compares proposals from the President's Budget, the House Appropriations L-HHS-ED bill (passed in July), and the Senate L-HHS-ED bill (released this week, but not yet passed). It shows how each FY22 proposal either has increased or decreased funding from FY21 by showing blue and red text, respectively. Note that almost every program gets a funding boost from FY21, but the House proposes greater boosts than the Senate.

CEF reports that the Senate's appropriations bills have the same discretionary total as the President requested and as in the House bill, however they provide more funding for defense than the other proposals. By providing a 5% increase for defense (rather than the 2% requested by the President), that leaves a 13% increase for non-defense discretionary (NDD) programs including education programs, which is smaller than the 16% increase in the House bills. The Senate L-HHS-ED bill provides a 35% increase over the comparable level of funding for the Department of Education for FY 2021 – what would be a historic increase; however, it is less than the 41% increase proposed in the President's budget and the House-passed L-HHS-ED bill. The Senate's L-HHS-ED bill would provide $4.4 billion less than the President's and House's proposals, with most of the difference coming out of the size of the increase for Title I: an increase of $16.6 billion (100%), which is $3 billion less than the House and President's levels. The Senate L-HHS-ED bill also does not include the $1 billion increase for mental health grants that is included in the other two spending proposals. The only program cut below the FY 2021 level is for the Education Department's program administration (i.e., salaries), which is cut by $10 million (2.3%). Early education programs in the Department of Health and Human Services get big increases that are slightly smaller than in the House bill, and library and museum programs also get similar increases. Stay tuned for further updates on FY22 appropriations as these bills progress, since the House and Senate versions must still be reconciled with each other through a conference process.

Infrastructure & Budget Reconciliation
Meanwhile, Democrats are aiming for a new self-imposed deadline of October 31 to negotiate an agreement to pass a bipartisan infrastructure package and the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation bill. Progressive lawmakers have discussed bringing the original $3.5 trillion price tag of the budget reconciliation bill down to anywhere from $1.9 to $2.2 trillion, however moderates including Sens. Manchin and Sinema have still been resisting agreeing to that top-line amount. As lawmakers pare down the bill, any policy provisions may be at the chopping block, including K-12 education funding proposals in the reconciliation bill, so now is the time to contact your officials about what you'd like to see included in the final bill. If you need assistance contacting your lawmakers, please contact us.

Today the Senate passed a stopgap funding bill to prevent a government shutdown at midnight tonight after language was removed to extend the debt ceiling. The bill will now go to the House, where it is expected to pass and clear President Biden's desk before the deadline. It will fund federal agencies through December 3, buying time for lawmakers to pass a full FY22 appropriations package. In the meantime, Congress will need to figure out a new strategy to address the debt ceiling, and a vote may be scheduled as early as next week.

Also, today the House is expected to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but whether it will pass remains uncertain. Progressive Democrats disapprove of delinking this bill from voting on budget reconciliation and are concerned about recent news regarding a deal Sen. Manchin (D-WV) proposed to Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) this summer to limit the cost of the budget reconciliation bill to $1.5 trillion, far below the original $3.5 trillion price tag. POLITICO reports that while "House progressives are ready to tank the Senate's bipartisan infrastructure bill" if brought for a vote today, the White House is hoping those threats will pressure moderates to come to the table and agree to "Biden's multitrillion-dollar social spending bill."

Budget Reconciliation & Infrastructure Update:
This week, House Speaker Pelosi has decided to decouple passing a budget reconciliation package with a separate bipartisan infrastructure bill, reneging on a deal made with progressive Democrats to try to pass both pieces of legislation on the same time/track. POLITICO reports that Speaker Pelosi and President Biden are continuing to work with the Senate to pass the budget reconciliation bill, "but the House must move ahead on infrastructure this week before surface transportation funding expires Thursday."

If an infrastructure bill is passed first, it is likely that the budget reconciliation bill will be significantly pared down from its original $3.5 trillion price tag in order to pass the Senate. Progressive Democrats would lose leverage to negotiate a more expensive reconciliation bill since they were intending to use their votes to pass the infrastructure bill in exchange for ensuring moderates approve their progressive policies and the higher price tag for the reconciliation bill. (However, this strategy falls apart if the bills are passed separately.) As such, progressive Democrats are rejecting Pelosi's decision and refusing to vote on the infrastructure bill, leaving it up to moderate Democrats and Republicans to provide the sufficient votes needed to ensure it passes. A vote on the infrastructure package is scheduled for Thursday.


CR Funding/Shutdown and Debt Ceiling Update:
Congress has until October 18 to raise or suspend the debt ceiling to ensure the U.S. Treasury can continue paying its debt obligations. If the ceiling isn't raised, the nation will go into default and everything from Social Security checks, Child Tax Credit payments, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and other federal benefits could be frozen. Earlier this week, Senate Republicans blocked Democrats from a procedural vote to advance a stopgap funding bill (CR) to prevent a federal shutdown because it included language to also extend the debt ceiling which they want to be delinked from the bill, and now Democrats are trying to figure out another path through (learn more here). It is possible that tomorrow's vote on the infrastructure bill may be delayed to force lawmakers' hands to pass a stopgap funding bill that raises the debt ceiling first, but negotiations are still underway. Stay tuned to this thread for more updates.

This week, House Democrats passed a stopgap funding bill (continuing resolution, or CR) to avert a federal shutdown before the 2021 federal fiscal year (FY21) ends in 8 days. The CR would extend funding through December 3, suspend the national debt ceiling until September 2022, and includes emergency funding for disaster relief and resettlement assistance for displaced Afghan populations.

However, as things currently stand, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that the CR is unlikely to pass the Senate. Congress is struggling to agree on how to extend government funding as it continues to work through its full-year FY22 appropriations bills. The bill requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate (to end a potential filibuster), but Republicans have vowed not to support an increase in or suspension of the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling will need to be addressed within the next month or the U.S. will no longer be able to borrow and begin to default on its obligations, with serious economic repercussions. Senate Republicans released their own CR which does not address the debt ceiling and contains foreign aid funding that progressive Democrats oppose.

Notably, for schools, both the House Democrat and Senate Republican CR proposals would allow funding levels for federal K-12 programs to continue at FY21 levels until Congress passes an FY22 appropriations package later this year. And, they include language to extend the USDA's waiver authority for child nutrition programs during COVID-19 until June 30 2022, to apply for the 2021-2022 school year (should additional program flexibilities need to be granted). However, with lawmakers at a standstill, it is unclear how things will turn out even though neither side wishes to see a government shutdown on October 1.

Regarding the two other items on Congress agenda--passing a budget reconciliation and a bipartisan infrastructure package-progressive and moderate Democrats continue to disagree on the timing and order for voting on each bill. House leadership previously committed to bringing the infrastructure bill to the floor for a vote by Monday, September 27. However, progressives won't vote for that bill unless they can also vote for the reconciliation bill, which will not be ready by then (reconciliation is likely weeks away from being finished as Democrats negotiate behind the scenes to pare back the size of the package to ensure it will pass). Learn more about what's in the reconciliation bill for schools here.

In addition to passing a budget reconciliation package and bipartisan infrastructure bill by the end of this month, Congress has two other fiscal policy priorities on their agenda during this time: 1) Pass FY22 funding legislation to prevent a government shutdown, and 2) Address the national debt limit.

FY22 Appropriations: The federal fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30. The current (FY21) fiscal year ends this month and FY22 will begin October 1, 2021. Since Congress has not completed its regular appropriations work (due to focusing on other priorities like reconciliation and infrastructure), lawmakers will need to pass a "continuing resolution" (CR) to prevent a shutdown. A CR would extend the deadline to pass a proper FY22 spending package and fund federal agencies and programs on auto-pilot (flat-funding) to keep the government open (likely through this December).

(Where is Congress currently in its regular appropriations process? The House has passed 9 of its 12 spending bills, but the Senate Appropriations Committee has only passed 3 bills so far. For education funding, the House passed its L-HHS-ED spending bill in July with significant investments in ED programs, but the Senate has yet to pass an equivalent bill.)

Understanding that a stopgap funding bill would be necessary, the Biden administration also asked Congress to tack billions of dollars in additional funding onto the CR to address immediate military and humanitarian needs regarding U.S.' withdrawal from Afghanistan and recovery from Hurricane Ida. It remains to be seen whether Congress will approve these additional requests and pass a CR by the September 30 deadline as lawmakers' concerns about excessive federal spending continue to grow.


Debt Limit: As Congress considers the budget reconciliation package, infrastructure bill, CR (and the eventual final FY22 appropriations package)-lawmakers will also need to vote on whether to raise or suspend the national debt ceiling to address its current obligations or face a default. (The debt ceiling is a legal cap on how much money the U.S. can borrow.)

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the government will run out of cash by this fall unless it raises the debt limit. POLITICO explains that if the debt ceiling isn't raised or suspended, the U.S. would default on its bond investors, its credit rating could tank, the government would be forced to scale back on Medicare, Social Security, and other programs; and it could spur another financial crisis. (Note the government has never defaulted before, so it's likely Congress will try to avert this but we don't know how much or how long the limit would be suspended/raised for.) More than likely, Democrats will try to add language to the CR bill to raise or suspend the debt limit, tying the need to raise the ceiling with averting a shutdown to pressure fiscal conservatives to pass the bill.

Needless to say, Congress' fiscal agenda is stacked for the coming weeks and will have many implications for education funding and our overall economic recovery, so please stay tuned for further updates on these issues in the Legislative Affairs Community.

• The BIF will provide $500 million in competitive grants over federal fiscal years (FYs) 2022-2026 through the Department of Energy (DOE) for energy efficiency improvements in public schools. The grants can be used for any improvement, repair, or renovation to a school that results in a direct reduction in school energy costs, leads to an improvement in teacher and student health (including indoor air quality), and that achieves energy savings.
• It provides $55 billion to replace lead water service lines to schools, child care centers, and families ($200 million over five years would address lead contamination in school drinking water).
• It also provides $5 billion for environment-friendly school buses, including $2.5 billion for zero-emission buses and $2.5 billion for low-emission buses.
• The legislation also reauthorizes and extends until 2023 the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, which helps fund schools in 700 counties that have federal forest land.
• While not school-specific funding, the BIF includes $65 billion for broadband investments to ensure everyone has access to high-speed internet and help more low-income families access the internet and afford devices.

In addition to voting on this bill, the House also passed a procedural vote to move forward with the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation bill, which has been pared down to $1.75 trillion from its original $3.75 trillion price tag (see what's in the latest version of the budget recon bill here). Meanwhile, POLITICO reports that "the successful vote followed hours of painstaking negotiation between moderates and progressives that yielded a statement" from moderates that they will commit to supporting the package provided that cost estimates met their projections, so "House moderates are now staking their votes on an independent budget analysis that may take weeks to produce." Although this is only a procedural vote, the Biden administration and several Democratic leaders have "publicly promised the chamber would vote on the bill before Thanksgiving. The social spending legislation will then go to the Senate, where it will almost certainly be tweaked and then sent back to the House for another vote."


FY22 Appropriations, CR/Shutdown, and Debt Ceiling
The federal government is operating until December 3 on a continuing resolution (CR) that extends funding at last fiscal year's levels, giving Congress two extra months to finish all 12 government spending bills or face a shutdown, however, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that appropriations leaders are having difficulty agreeing on total funding levels for defense and non-defense programs to move forward. It is possible that another CR may need to be passed to buy Congress more time to finish a full-year FY22 spending package, since 60 votes are required to pass in the Senate and bipartisan support is required but we do not know how long the CR would go for. Around the same time, lawmakers will need to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, and it is not clear what path will be taken to address the issue considering the current political gridlock. Stay tuned to this thread for additional federal funding updates.

Debt Ceiling and Continuing Resolution (CR)
Last week, President Biden signed a bill granting a short-term extension of the debt ceiling, which is expected to ensure the government can pay its obligations through early December. Around the same time (December 3), Congress will need to pass a FY22 appropriations package to keep agencies funded and running, so lawmakers will be working on appropriations bills to avert a shutdown in the coming weeks. Depending on Congressional gridlock, it is not yet clear whether we will see a full-year CR passed for the remainder of FY22, or if lawmakers will manage to pass an actual FY22 appropriations omnibus bill.

FY22 Appropriations Update
This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee released the nine remaining FY22 appropriations bills, including funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (L-HHS-ED). See the Senate's L-HHS-ED Appropriations bill text here, a committee summary here, and an explanatory statement here about why the committee chose to fund programs as they did (pp. 361-370 covers ED programs toward the end of the document).

The Committee for Education Funding (CEF) created a table (attached here) that compares federal education program funding levels from FYs 2018-2021, and for FY 2022 it compares proposals from the President's Budget, the House Appropriations L-HHS-ED bill (passed in July), and the Senate L-HHS-ED bill (released this week, but not yet passed). It shows how each FY22 proposal either has increased or decreased funding from FY21 by showing blue and red text, respectively. Note that almost every program gets a funding boost from FY21, but the House proposes greater boosts than the Senate.

CEF reports that the Senate's appropriations bills have the same discretionary total as the President requested and as in the House bill, however they provide more funding for defense than the other proposals. By providing a 5% increase for defense (rather than the 2% requested by the President), that leaves a 13% increase for non-defense discretionary (NDD) programs including education programs, which is smaller than the 16% increase in the House bills. The Senate L-HHS-ED bill provides a 35% increase over the comparable level of funding for the Department of Education for FY 2021 – what would be a historic increase; however, it is less than the 41% increase proposed in the President's budget and the House-passed L-HHS-ED bill. The Senate's L-HHS-ED bill would provide $4.4 billion less than the President's and House's proposals, with most of the difference coming out of the size of the increase for Title I: an increase of $16.6 billion (100%), which is $3 billion less than the House and President's levels. The Senate L-HHS-ED bill also does not include the $1 billion increase for mental health grants that is included in the other two spending proposals. The only program cut below the FY 2021 level is for the Education Department's program administration (i.e., salaries), which is cut by $10 million (2.3%). Early education programs in the Department of Health and Human Services get big increases that are slightly smaller than in the House bill, and library and museum programs also get similar increases. Stay tuned for further updates on FY22 appropriations as these bills progress, since the House and Senate versions must still be reconciled with each other through a conference process.

Infrastructure & Budget Reconciliation
Meanwhile, Democrats are aiming for a new self-imposed deadline of October 31 to negotiate an agreement to pass a bipartisan infrastructure package and the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation bill. Progressive lawmakers have discussed bringing the original $3.5 trillion price tag of the budget reconciliation bill down to anywhere from $1.9 to $2.2 trillion, however moderates including Sens. Manchin and Sinema have still been resisting agreeing to that top-line amount. As lawmakers pare down the bill, any policy provisions may be at the chopping block, including K-12 education funding proposals in the reconciliation bill, so now is the time to contact your officials about what you'd like to see included in the final bill. If you need assistance contacting your lawmakers, please contact us.

Today the Senate passed a stopgap funding bill to prevent a government shutdown at midnight tonight after language was removed to extend the debt ceiling. The bill will now go to the House, where it is expected to pass and clear President Biden's desk before the deadline. It will fund federal agencies through December 3, buying time for lawmakers to pass a full FY22 appropriations package. In the meantime, Congress will need to figure out a new strategy to address the debt ceiling, and a vote may be scheduled as early as next week.

Also, today the House is expected to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but whether it will pass remains uncertain. Progressive Democrats disapprove of delinking this bill from voting on budget reconciliation and are concerned about recent news regarding a deal Sen. Manchin (D-WV) proposed to Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) this summer to limit the cost of the budget reconciliation bill to $1.5 trillion, far below the original $3.5 trillion price tag. POLITICO reports that while "House progressives are ready to tank the Senate's bipartisan infrastructure bill" if brought for a vote today, the White House is hoping those threats will pressure moderates to come to the table and agree to "Biden's multitrillion-dollar social spending bill."

Budget Reconciliation & Infrastructure Update:
This week, House Speaker Pelosi has decided to decouple passing a budget reconciliation package with a separate bipartisan infrastructure bill, reneging on a deal made with progressive Democrats to try to pass both pieces of legislation on the same time/track. POLITICO reports that Speaker Pelosi and President Biden are continuing to work with the Senate to pass the budget reconciliation bill, "but the House must move ahead on infrastructure this week before surface transportation funding expires Thursday."

If an infrastructure bill is passed first, it is likely that the budget reconciliation bill will be significantly pared down from its original $3.5 trillion price tag in order to pass the Senate. Progressive Democrats would lose leverage to negotiate a more expensive reconciliation bill since they were intending to use their votes to pass the infrastructure bill in exchange for ensuring moderates approve their progressive policies and the higher price tag for the reconciliation bill. (However, this strategy falls apart if the bills are passed separately.) As such, progressive Democrats are rejecting Pelosi's decision and refusing to vote on the infrastructure bill, leaving it up to moderate Democrats and Republicans to provide the sufficient votes needed to ensure it passes. A vote on the infrastructure package is scheduled for Thursday.


CR Funding/Shutdown and Debt Ceiling Update:
Congress has until October 18 to raise or suspend the debt ceiling to ensure the U.S. Treasury can continue paying its debt obligations. If the ceiling isn't raised, the nation will go into default and everything from Social Security checks, Child Tax Credit payments, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and other federal benefits could be frozen. Earlier this week, Senate Republicans blocked Democrats from a procedural vote to advance a stopgap funding bill (CR) to prevent a federal shutdown because it included language to also extend the debt ceiling which they want to be delinked from the bill, and now Democrats are trying to figure out another path through (learn more here). It is possible that tomorrow's vote on the infrastructure bill may be delayed to force lawmakers' hands to pass a stopgap funding bill that raises the debt ceiling first, but negotiations are still underway. Stay tuned to this thread for more updates.

This week, House Democrats passed a stopgap funding bill (continuing resolution, or CR) to avert a federal shutdown before the 2021 federal fiscal year (FY21) ends in 8 days. The CR would extend funding through December 3, suspend the national debt ceiling until September 2022, and includes emergency funding for disaster relief and resettlement assistance for displaced Afghan populations.

However, as things currently stand, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that the CR is unlikely to pass the Senate. Congress is struggling to agree on how to extend government funding as it continues to work through its full-year FY22 appropriations bills. The bill requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate (to end a potential filibuster), but Republicans have vowed not to support an increase in or suspension of the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling will need to be addressed within the next month or the U.S. will no longer be able to borrow and begin to default on its obligations, with serious economic repercussions. Senate Republicans released their own CR which does not address the debt ceiling and contains foreign aid funding that progressive Democrats oppose.

Notably, for schools, both the House Democrat and Senate Republican CR proposals would allow funding levels for federal K-12 programs to continue at FY21 levels until Congress passes an FY22 appropriations package later this year. And, they include language to extend the USDA's waiver authority for child nutrition programs during COVID-19 until June 30 2022, to apply for the 2021-2022 school year (should additional program flexibilities need to be granted). However, with lawmakers at a standstill, it is unclear how things will turn out even though neither side wishes to see a government shutdown on October 1.

Regarding the two other items on Congress agenda--passing a budget reconciliation and a bipartisan infrastructure package-progressive and moderate Democrats continue to disagree on the timing and order for voting on each bill. House leadership previously committed to bringing the infrastructure bill to the floor for a vote by Monday, September 27. However, progressives won't vote for that bill unless they can also vote for the reconciliation bill, which will not be ready by then (reconciliation is likely weeks away from being finished as Democrats negotiate behind the scenes to pare back the size of the package to ensure it will pass). Learn more about what's in the reconciliation bill for schools here.

In addition to passing a budget reconciliation package and bipartisan infrastructure bill by the end of this month, Congress has two other fiscal policy priorities on their agenda during this time: 1) Pass FY22 funding legislation to prevent a government shutdown, and 2) Address the national debt limit.

FY22 Appropriations: The federal fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30. The current (FY21) fiscal year ends this month and FY22 will begin October 1, 2021. Since Congress has not completed its regular appropriations work (due to focusing on other priorities like reconciliation and infrastructure), lawmakers will need to pass a "continuing resolution" (CR) to prevent a shutdown. A CR would extend the deadline to pass a proper FY22 spending package and fund federal agencies and programs on auto-pilot (flat-funding) to keep the government open (likely through this December).

(Where is Congress currently in its regular appropriations process? The House has passed 9 of its 12 spending bills, but the Senate Appropriations Committee has only passed 3 bills so far. For education funding, the House passed its L-HHS-ED spending bill in July with significant investments in ED programs, but the Senate has yet to pass an equivalent bill.)

Understanding that a stopgap funding bill would be necessary, the Biden administration also asked Congress to tack billions of dollars in additional funding onto the CR to address immediate military and humanitarian needs regarding U.S.' withdrawal from Afghanistan and recovery from Hurricane Ida. It remains to be seen whether Congress will approve these additional requests and pass a CR by the September 30 deadline as lawmakers' concerns about excessive federal spending continue to grow.


Debt Limit: As Congress considers the budget reconciliation package, infrastructure bill, CR (and the eventual final FY22 appropriations package)-lawmakers will also need to vote on whether to raise or suspend the national debt ceiling to address its current obligations or face a default. (The debt ceiling is a legal cap on how much money the U.S. can borrow.)

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the government will run out of cash by this fall unless it raises the debt limit. POLITICO explains that if the debt ceiling isn't raised or suspended, the U.S. would default on its bond investors, its credit rating could tank, the government would be forced to scale back on Medicare, Social Security, and other programs; and it could spur another financial crisis. (Note the government has never defaulted before, so it's likely Congress will try to avert this but we don't know how much or how long the limit would be suspended/raised for.) More than likely, Democrats will try to add language to the CR bill to raise or suspend the debt limit, tying the need to raise the ceiling with averting a shutdown to pressure fiscal conservatives to pass the bill.

Needless to say, Congress' fiscal agenda is stacked for the coming weeks and will have many implications for education funding and our overall economic recovery, so please stay tuned for further updates on these issues in the Legislative Affairs Community.

Last week, Congress passed a stopgap funding bill to avert a federal shutdown, which President Biden signed just ahead of the December 3 midnight deadline. The 11-week continuing resolution (CR) will extend funding through February 18 to buy more time for appropriators to pass a final FY22 spending package.

The Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that the next item on Congress' "must-do" list is raising the debt limit or suspending it until a later future date. Estimates are that the current debt limit will be reached by mid-December, requiring congressional action or else the government will stop being able to meet its obligations (and cause catastrophic economic results). Republicans have vowed in the past not to help Democrats raise the debt limit, and Senate leaders have not yet agreed on how to proceed. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wants Democrats to raise the debt limit through the budget reconciliation process, which would require first passing a new budget resolution or amending the current one, then passing a reconciliation bill with 50 Democratic votes to raise the debt ceiling-which is a lengthy process.

As for the budget reconciliation bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wants to bring the Build Back Better Act to the floor during the week of December 13. However, it is still undergoing technical and procedural work with the Senate parliamentarian, and depending on how well negotiations go between moderate and progressive lawmakers, the process could carry into next year despite Democrats' initial goal to pass the bill by Christmas.  

• The BIF will provide $500 million in competitive grants over federal fiscal years (FYs) 2022-2026 through the Department of Energy (DOE) for energy efficiency improvements in public schools. The grants can be used for any improvement, repair, or renovation to a school that results in a direct reduction in school energy costs, leads to an improvement in teacher and student health (including indoor air quality), and that achieves energy savings.
• It provides $55 billion to replace lead water service lines to schools, child care centers, and families ($200 million over five years would address lead contamination in school drinking water).
• It also provides $5 billion for environment-friendly school buses, including $2.5 billion for zero-emission buses and $2.5 billion for low-emission buses.
• The legislation also reauthorizes and extends until 2023 the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, which helps fund schools in 700 counties that have federal forest land.
• While not school-specific funding, the BIF includes $65 billion for broadband investments to ensure everyone has access to high-speed internet and help more low-income families access the internet and afford devices.

In addition to voting on this bill, the House also passed a procedural vote to move forward with the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation bill, which has been pared down to $1.75 trillion from its original $3.75 trillion price tag (see what's in the latest version of the budget recon bill here). Meanwhile, POLITICO reports that "the successful vote followed hours of painstaking negotiation between moderates and progressives that yielded a statement" from moderates that they will commit to supporting the package provided that cost estimates met their projections, so "House moderates are now staking their votes on an independent budget analysis that may take weeks to produce." Although this is only a procedural vote, the Biden administration and several Democratic leaders have "publicly promised the chamber would vote on the bill before Thanksgiving. The social spending legislation will then go to the Senate, where it will almost certainly be tweaked and then sent back to the House for another vote."


FY22 Appropriations, CR/Shutdown, and Debt Ceiling
The federal government is operating until December 3 on a continuing resolution (CR) that extends funding at last fiscal year's levels, giving Congress two extra months to finish all 12 government spending bills or face a shutdown, however, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that appropriations leaders are having difficulty agreeing on total funding levels for defense and non-defense programs to move forward. It is possible that another CR may need to be passed to buy Congress more time to finish a full-year FY22 spending package, since 60 votes are required to pass in the Senate and bipartisan support is required but we do not know how long the CR would go for. Around the same time, lawmakers will need to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, and it is not clear what path will be taken to address the issue considering the current political gridlock. Stay tuned to this thread for additional federal funding updates.

Debt Ceiling and Continuing Resolution (CR)
Last week, President Biden signed a bill granting a short-term extension of the debt ceiling, which is expected to ensure the government can pay its obligations through early December. Around the same time (December 3), Congress will need to pass a FY22 appropriations package to keep agencies funded and running, so lawmakers will be working on appropriations bills to avert a shutdown in the coming weeks. Depending on Congressional gridlock, it is not yet clear whether we will see a full-year CR passed for the remainder of FY22, or if lawmakers will manage to pass an actual FY22 appropriations omnibus bill.

FY22 Appropriations Update
This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee released the nine remaining FY22 appropriations bills, including funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (L-HHS-ED). See the Senate's L-HHS-ED Appropriations bill text here, a committee summary here, and an explanatory statement here about why the committee chose to fund programs as they did (pp. 361-370 covers ED programs toward the end of the document).

The Committee for Education Funding (CEF) created a table (attached here) that compares federal education program funding levels from FYs 2018-2021, and for FY 2022 it compares proposals from the President's Budget, the House Appropriations L-HHS-ED bill (passed in July), and the Senate L-HHS-ED bill (released this week, but not yet passed). It shows how each FY22 proposal either has increased or decreased funding from FY21 by showing blue and red text, respectively. Note that almost every program gets a funding boost from FY21, but the House proposes greater boosts than the Senate.

CEF reports that the Senate's appropriations bills have the same discretionary total as the President requested and as in the House bill, however they provide more funding for defense than the other proposals. By providing a 5% increase for defense (rather than the 2% requested by the President), that leaves a 13% increase for non-defense discretionary (NDD) programs including education programs, which is smaller than the 16% increase in the House bills. The Senate L-HHS-ED bill provides a 35% increase over the comparable level of funding for the Department of Education for FY 2021 – what would be a historic increase; however, it is less than the 41% increase proposed in the President's budget and the House-passed L-HHS-ED bill. The Senate's L-HHS-ED bill would provide $4.4 billion less than the President's and House's proposals, with most of the difference coming out of the size of the increase for Title I: an increase of $16.6 billion (100%), which is $3 billion less than the House and President's levels. The Senate L-HHS-ED bill also does not include the $1 billion increase for mental health grants that is included in the other two spending proposals. The only program cut below the FY 2021 level is for the Education Department's program administration (i.e., salaries), which is cut by $10 million (2.3%). Early education programs in the Department of Health and Human Services get big increases that are slightly smaller than in the House bill, and library and museum programs also get similar increases. Stay tuned for further updates on FY22 appropriations as these bills progress, since the House and Senate versions must still be reconciled with each other through a conference process.

Infrastructure & Budget Reconciliation
Meanwhile, Democrats are aiming for a new self-imposed deadline of October 31 to negotiate an agreement to pass a bipartisan infrastructure package and the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation bill. Progressive lawmakers have discussed bringing the original $3.5 trillion price tag of the budget reconciliation bill down to anywhere from $1.9 to $2.2 trillion, however moderates including Sens. Manchin and Sinema have still been resisting agreeing to that top-line amount. As lawmakers pare down the bill, any policy provisions may be at the chopping block, including K-12 education funding proposals in the reconciliation bill, so now is the time to contact your officials about what you'd like to see included in the final bill. If you need assistance contacting your lawmakers, please contact us.

Today the Senate passed a stopgap funding bill to prevent a government shutdown at midnight tonight after language was removed to extend the debt ceiling. The bill will now go to the House, where it is expected to pass and clear President Biden's desk before the deadline. It will fund federal agencies through December 3, buying time for lawmakers to pass a full FY22 appropriations package. In the meantime, Congress will need to figure out a new strategy to address the debt ceiling, and a vote may be scheduled as early as next week.

Also, today the House is expected to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but whether it will pass remains uncertain. Progressive Democrats disapprove of delinking this bill from voting on budget reconciliation and are concerned about recent news regarding a deal Sen. Manchin (D-WV) proposed to Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) this summer to limit the cost of the budget reconciliation bill to $1.5 trillion, far below the original $3.5 trillion price tag. POLITICO reports that while "House progressives are ready to tank the Senate's bipartisan infrastructure bill" if brought for a vote today, the White House is hoping those threats will pressure moderates to come to the table and agree to "Biden's multitrillion-dollar social spending bill."

Budget Reconciliation & Infrastructure Update:
This week, House Speaker Pelosi has decided to decouple passing a budget reconciliation package with a separate bipartisan infrastructure bill, reneging on a deal made with progressive Democrats to try to pass both pieces of legislation on the same time/track. POLITICO reports that Speaker Pelosi and President Biden are continuing to work with the Senate to pass the budget reconciliation bill, "but the House must move ahead on infrastructure this week before surface transportation funding expires Thursday."

If an infrastructure bill is passed first, it is likely that the budget reconciliation bill will be significantly pared down from its original $3.5 trillion price tag in order to pass the Senate. Progressive Democrats would lose leverage to negotiate a more expensive reconciliation bill since they were intending to use their votes to pass the infrastructure bill in exchange for ensuring moderates approve their progressive policies and the higher price tag for the reconciliation bill. (However, this strategy falls apart if the bills are passed separately.) As such, progressive Democrats are rejecting Pelosi's decision and refusing to vote on the infrastructure bill, leaving it up to moderate Democrats and Republicans to provide the sufficient votes needed to ensure it passes. A vote on the infrastructure package is scheduled for Thursday.


CR Funding/Shutdown and Debt Ceiling Update:
Congress has until October 18 to raise or suspend the debt ceiling to ensure the U.S. Treasury can continue paying its debt obligations. If the ceiling isn't raised, the nation will go into default and everything from Social Security checks, Child Tax Credit payments, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and other federal benefits could be frozen. Earlier this week, Senate Republicans blocked Democrats from a procedural vote to advance a stopgap funding bill (CR) to prevent a federal shutdown because it included language to also extend the debt ceiling which they want to be delinked from the bill, and now Democrats are trying to figure out another path through (learn more here). It is possible that tomorrow's vote on the infrastructure bill may be delayed to force lawmakers' hands to pass a stopgap funding bill that raises the debt ceiling first, but negotiations are still underway. Stay tuned to this thread for more updates.

This week, House Democrats passed a stopgap funding bill (continuing resolution, or CR) to avert a federal shutdown before the 2021 federal fiscal year (FY21) ends in 8 days. The CR would extend funding through December 3, suspend the national debt ceiling until September 2022, and includes emergency funding for disaster relief and resettlement assistance for displaced Afghan populations.

However, as things currently stand, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that the CR is unlikely to pass the Senate. Congress is struggling to agree on how to extend government funding as it continues to work through its full-year FY22 appropriations bills. The bill requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate (to end a potential filibuster), but Republicans have vowed not to support an increase in or suspension of the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling will need to be addressed within the next month or the U.S. will no longer be able to borrow and begin to default on its obligations, with serious economic repercussions. Senate Republicans released their own CR which does not address the debt ceiling and contains foreign aid funding that progressive Democrats oppose.

Notably, for schools, both the House Democrat and Senate Republican CR proposals would allow funding levels for federal K-12 programs to continue at FY21 levels until Congress passes an FY22 appropriations package later this year. And, they include language to extend the USDA's waiver authority for child nutrition programs during COVID-19 until June 30 2022, to apply for the 2021-2022 school year (should additional program flexibilities need to be granted). However, with lawmakers at a standstill, it is unclear how things will turn out even though neither side wishes to see a government shutdown on October 1.

Regarding the two other items on Congress agenda--passing a budget reconciliation and a bipartisan infrastructure package-progressive and moderate Democrats continue to disagree on the timing and order for voting on each bill. House leadership previously committed to bringing the infrastructure bill to the floor for a vote by Monday, September 27. However, progressives won't vote for that bill unless they can also vote for the reconciliation bill, which will not be ready by then (reconciliation is likely weeks away from being finished as Democrats negotiate behind the scenes to pare back the size of the package to ensure it will pass). Learn more about what's in the reconciliation bill for schools here.

In addition to passing a budget reconciliation package and bipartisan infrastructure bill by the end of this month, Congress has two other fiscal policy priorities on their agenda during this time: 1) Pass FY22 funding legislation to prevent a government shutdown, and 2) Address the national debt limit.

FY22 Appropriations: The federal fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30. The current (FY21) fiscal year ends this month and FY22 will begin October 1, 2021. Since Congress has not completed its regular appropriations work (due to focusing on other priorities like reconciliation and infrastructure), lawmakers will need to pass a "continuing resolution" (CR) to prevent a shutdown. A CR would extend the deadline to pass a proper FY22 spending package and fund federal agencies and programs on auto-pilot (flat-funding) to keep the government open (likely through this December).

(Where is Congress currently in its regular appropriations process? The House has passed 9 of its 12 spending bills, but the Senate Appropriations Committee has only passed 3 bills so far. For education funding, the House passed its L-HHS-ED spending bill in July with significant investments in ED programs, but the Senate has yet to pass an equivalent bill.)

Understanding that a stopgap funding bill would be necessary, the Biden administration also asked Congress to tack billions of dollars in additional funding onto the CR to address immediate military and humanitarian needs regarding U.S.' withdrawal from Afghanistan and recovery from Hurricane Ida. It remains to be seen whether Congress will approve these additional requests and pass a CR by the September 30 deadline as lawmakers' concerns about excessive federal spending continue to grow.


Debt Limit: As Congress considers the budget reconciliation package, infrastructure bill, CR (and the eventual final FY22 appropriations package)-lawmakers will also need to vote on whether to raise or suspend the national debt ceiling to address its current obligations or face a default. (The debt ceiling is a legal cap on how much money the U.S. can borrow.)

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the government will run out of cash by this fall unless it raises the debt limit. POLITICO explains that if the debt ceiling isn't raised or suspended, the U.S. would default on its bond investors, its credit rating could tank, the government would be forced to scale back on Medicare, Social Security, and other programs; and it could spur another financial crisis. (Note the government has never defaulted before, so it's likely Congress will try to avert this but we don't know how much or how long the limit would be suspended/raised for.) More than likely, Democrats will try to add language to the CR bill to raise or suspend the debt limit, tying the need to raise the ceiling with averting a shutdown to pressure fiscal conservatives to pass the bill.

Needless to say, Congress' fiscal agenda is stacked for the coming weeks and will have many implications for education funding and our overall economic recovery, so please stay tuned for further updates on these issues in the Legislative Affairs Community.