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Author: Christy Gullion

FY 2015 Appropriations Process Stalled

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There are just two weeks left until Congress adjourns for the month of August (August 1st—September 5th). This week lawmakers will return to DC and try to advance a few pieces of legislation – including refilling the Highway Trust Fund and reaching a deal on veterans’ health care legislation – before the end of August.

On the appropriations front, there is not much news to report. With the Senate’s regular appropriations work stalled and an emergency spending request for migrant children taking up time and energy on Capitol Hill, a full government-wide continuing resolution (CR) now appears to be a near certainty for the fall. Congress has until September 30th – the end of the federal fiscal year – to complete appropriations work. Many senior appropriators say they now see a 12-bill CR as a near inevitability. The more pressing question in coming weeks for appropriators will be not if, but how long stopgap legislation would last and if any other provisions, including perhaps some border spending, might be attached to it. If a CR is approved, we are likely to see an omnibus spending bill in the lame-duck session after the midterm elections.

In other news, Cora B. Marrett announced that she will resign her position as Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) effective August 24th. Marrett was confirmed as NSF Deputy Director in 2011. She has also served as NSF’s acting director and acting deputy director. Marrett served as the first assistant director for the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences directorate, and as assistant director for the Education and Human Resources directorate.

Congress Back for 4-Week Summer Session

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Democrats and Republicans are returning to the Capitol today after a weeklong break to celebrate the Fourth of July. But they appear to be more focused on the midterm elections rather than on moving legislation. Hopes have dimmed that Congress will get much done this year since they only have 29 legislative days left in 2014, and the majority of that time will be in the next four weeks.

It is possible, however, that they may find the political will to get a few things done between now and the August recess. Some prospects include veterans healthcare (in light of the recent VA scandals), funding for highway and bridge projects, and maybe a couple of FY 2015 appropriations bills.

House Republicans will use July to continue moving spending bills through the committee process and onto the floor, though it remains unclear if they’ll succeed in advancing all 12 appropriations bills before the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. The House will continue to move forward this week, with the chamber scheduled to consider its FY 2015 Energy-Water appropriations bill as early as Wednesday. Passage of this sixth appropriations measure would put the House halfway to completion of all 12 annual bills. The Senate, however, has yet to pass any of its spending bills and chances are slim that they will complete any before the August recess.

December’s bipartisan budget deal between Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) has established a top-line figure that many think will grease the process, even as some members on the far left and far right are pushing back. Congress has until October 1st to act to prevent another shutdown, and the debate over appropriations will extend beyond the August recess and likely push up against that deadline. If the sides can’t agree on individual spending bills, they’ll likely pursue a shorter-term stopgap measure – a so-called continuing resolution – to take them at least into the lame-duck session after the November elections.

Student Loan Interest Rates Rise

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Annual student loan interest rates increase tomorrow, July 1st. This represents the first full year loan rates will be tied to the 10-year Treasury note under the deal struck by Congress last summer. Rates will rise from 3.86 to 4.66 percent for undergraduate Stafford loans, 5.41 to 6.21 percent for graduate Stafford loans and 6.41 to 7.21 percent for parent and graduate PLUS Loans. The maximum Pell Grant will also increase tomorrow by $85 to $5,730. The Institute for College Access and Success offers a helpful fact sheet breaking down the changes.

Higher Ed Legislation Advances

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Today Senate HELP Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) will introduce his plan to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The Higher Education Affordability Act focuses on four goals: Increasing college affordability, helping struggling borrowers, strengthening accountability, and improving transparency. These goals will be achieved through 21 action points, including tightening for-profit regulations, better accountability metrics for colleges and universities, and a reduction in loan borrower fees.

The Harkin proposal overlaps ever so slightly with goals outlined yesterday by Congressman John Kline (R-MN) and House Education & the Workforce Committee Republicans. Kline plans to introduce the first of a series of HEA-related bills, which will revolve around transparency, accountability, a simplified aid system, and limited federal regulation. We expect to see this bill later in the week.

Also today, the Senate will take up the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which would modernize the workforce education system in the U.S. Democratic Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and GOP Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) both spent years negotiating the long overdue reauthorization. Lawmakers will consider the bill under a unanimous consent agreement. This is the first significant step in years toward reauthorization.

And finally, House Ways and Means Committee will mark up today a pair of bills addressing the child tax credit and education tax credits.The education tax bill would streamline a laundry list of credits and expand and make permanent the existing American Opportunity Tax Credit. The Child Tax Credit bill, introduced Monday by Congresswomen Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), would expand the number of individuals and families who can access the credit by increasing the income threshold from $110,000 to $150,000 for joint filers.

FY 2015 Appropriations Update

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The Senate’s inability to reach an amendment deal on a three-bill “minibus” could dash hopes for remaining FY 2015 spending bills. Though some Senate Republicans and Democrats say they want to find a way forward to debate fiscal 2015 spending bills, it’s not clear whether they can overcome the substantial distrust that scuttled this week’s attempt to advance the minibus combining three appropriations measures. Several Republicans and Democrats said that they still want to find a way forward, but it’s not clear whether that will be possible. The bill is technically still available for floor debate and Senate leaders had previously set aside next week to work on the package.

The floor setback in followed another blow to the Senate appropriations process on Wednesday night, when the Appropriations Committee postponed a markup of the traditionally bipartisan Energy-Water spending bill, the second such delay in a week. Last week, the panel delayed a planned markup of the more controversial Labor-HHS-Education measure. Appropriations Chairwoman Mikulski (D-MD) said she postponed the markup in consultation with other Democratic leaders because the White House was going to threaten to veto the Energy-Water measure because of a controversial amendment offered by the GOP to block the EPA’s recently announced carbon standards for existing power plants.

Meanwhile, the House is due to pass its fifth FY 2015 spending bill on today. The $570.4 billion Defense bill would increase some Pentagon funding and reverse war policies. House leaders have not settled on which spending bill they will take up after Defense. One option could be the $20.9 billion Agriculture bill that was pulled from the floor last week with GOP leaders focused on the election of a new majority leader and unable to whip against potentially divisive amendments. Another option for House leaders could be to take up their Energy-Water spending bill, which would allow Republicans an opportunity to attach provisions to block the new EPA carbon emission rules.

Whatever bill comes next, the House faces increasingly long odds in meeting appropriators’ goal of passing all twelve FY 2015 spending bills by the August recess – and it is certain that the Senate will be further behind in it’s appropriations work.