A U.S. Senate subcommittee on Tuesday passed a spending bill for health, labor and education programs that would increase funds for biomedical research and boost the maximum Pell Grant -- but slash spending on workforce training and AmeriCorps and block the Obama administration from implementing regulations relating to gainful employment for vocational programs and its college rating system.
Like a parallel bill approved last week by a House of Representatives panel, the 2016 spending bill backed by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies would raise the maximum Pell Grant to $5,915 in the fiscal year that begins in October, up from the current $5,775.
But it would also take a big bite ($300 million) out of the surplus funds that the Congressional Budget Office estimates will be available for the program, shuffling that money for other purposes while potentially leaving the Pell program short in future years. The House bill would snag $370 million in Pell funds.
The appropriations subcommittee released no text or budget table for the legislation, so the details that are available are from news releases, representing what Republican and Democratic leaders on the panel chose to emphasize.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/24/senate-spending-plan-college-programs-sets-likely-budget-fights