House appropriators on Wednesday approved a FY 2018 budget resolution, setting the stage for a massive tax overhaul and $200 billion in cuts from mandatory programs, Inside Higher Ed reported. The fiscal blueprint includes reconciliation instructions directing the House Education and Workforce Committee to produce $20 billion of those savings.
The approved package rejects most of the Trump administration's proposal to dramatically slash funding to higher education programs, The Washington Post reported. It calls for $157.9 billion for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education—a figure $3 billion, or roughly 2 percent, below the allocation of about $161 billion for fiscal year 2017. The budget would sustain level funding for the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Program and the Federal Work-Study Program; increase spending on both the TRIO, by $60 million, and GEAR UP programs, by $10 million; and boost spending on the NIH by $1.1 billion, instead of the nearly 20 percent cut suggested in the administration's budget.
The budget plan would also, however, take $3.3 billion out of the Pell Grant surplus while leaving the maximum grant flat at $5,920 for the 2017-18 academic year—the first time in six years the size of the award has not increased.
Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI) called for the committee to allocate those cuts from the program surplus to increase the size of the grant by $135. Pocan and other Democrats argued that money taken out of the Pell surplus should be reinvested in the program. But the amendment failed on a party-line vote, Inside Higher Ed reported.
Ahead of the committee markup, AACRAO joined a coalition of 40 higher education and civil rights groups to send a letter to lawmakers arguing against the cuts to the Pell surplus. The groups pointed out that the cut came on top of $1.3 billion removed from the surplus in a May spending agreement for fiscal year 2017.
"Cutting an additional $3.3 billion in [fiscal 2018] would put muchΓÇÉneeded investments to strengthen the Pell Grant further out of reach, and place the program at risk of future cuts to grant amounts or eligibility that would exacerbate student debt and limit access to higher education," the groups said.
The budget resolution now moves to the full House for consideration. It remains unclear whether the plan will garner enough support to pass on the House floor.
Related Links
Inside Higher Ed
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/07/20/larger-pell-grant-voted-down-committee
The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/grade-point/wp/2017/07/19/house-republicans-at-odds-with-trumps-proposed-higher-education-cuts/