Today, the Senate voted to approve the House-passed Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 continuing resolution (CR) in an effort to avert a government shutdown on October 1. As we reported earlier this week, the CR will temporarily fund federal programs, including Perkins, at the current, FY 2013 level. For Perkins specifically, federal funding was cut by 5.2 percent in FY 2013 due to sequestration. This resulted in a $58 million reduction in the federal support for CTE in the 2013-14 school year.
The Senate approved the stopgap funding measure on a party-line vote of 54 to 44. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was successful in removing a controversial provision that would eliminate all funding for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The Senate also moved up the expiration date for the CR to November 15.
The CR must now go back to the House where it will have to be approved before midnight on Monday in order to prevent a government shutdown. The pressure is now on House Republicans who will decide if they can accept the Senate’s changes when the bill returns to the chamber for a rare Saturday vote. If the House makes any changes of its own to the CR, including reinserting the language to defund Obamacare, it will bounce back to the Senate for another round of votes there. The clock is ticking and any delay in the process will increase the likelihood that the federal government will have to close its doors on Tuesday. Check back to the CTE Policy Watch Blog for more updates!
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