Budget and Appropriations Update

Date: February 7, 2011

By Della Cronin, Washington Partners

As the March 4th expiration date for the continuing resolution (CR) approaches, Members of Congress are finally getting down to the business of writing a budget for FY 2011. Though the Senate remains in a “wait and see” mode, Republican leaders in the House announced that overall spending for the fiscal year that began on October 1, 2010 will be reduced by $43 billion– 9.3% below the previous year. The new allocation for the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education budget is slightly better—a cut of 7.3% below the amount in the current Continuing Resolution (CR). Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) acknowledged that this cut is less than promised on the campaign trail, but he called it “the first step in restoring the trust of the American people and rebuilding the American economy.” Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) also announced that the spending bill that will be presented to House Members next week for debate will cut funding at all federal agencies and said, “These cuts will not be easy, they will be broad and deep, [and] they will affect every congressional district.” Emphasizing this point, he said the new CR will “make the largest series of spending cuts in history.” Needless to say these actions gave pause to all education advocates.

As if the budget news were not bad enough, on the other side of the Capitol, the Senate agreed to pay for the repeal of a troublesome provision in the Health Care Reform bill by giving the Administration the authority to rescind $40 billion in unobligated FY 2010 appropriations as they see fit. Appropriators were particularly outraged that their colleagues ceded the authority to determine government spending priorities to the executive branch. This followed the defeat of an amendment to repeal the Health Care Reform Act, which failed on a predicted party line vote. Though the Senate has not yet acted on the CR set to expire March 4, it is anticipated that the Omnibus spending bill that failed last winter will serve as the chamber’s initial negotiation position. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) made news this week when he announced that the CR for FY 2011 would not contain earmarks—a move that had been anticipated for FY 2012, but not the current year.

The President’s comments in his State of the Union address regarding the need to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in the current Congress seemed to spur the interest of authorizers this week. A bi-cameral, bipartisan meeting with education leaders and the administration about a timetable for the reauthorization was held on Wednesday, and the following day House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair John Kline (R-MN) announced that the first hearing of the 112th Congress on the topic is scheduled for Thursday, February 10th. In the Senate, advocates are discussing their priorities with Members and staff in anticipation of Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin’s intention to introduce a reauthorization bill this spring.