Congressional appropriators are expected to announce the final FY 2014 appropriations bill early this week. The funding bill will likely come as an omnibus measure that will combine all 12 regular appropriations bills into one legislative package. As we previously reported, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, which was passed by Congress in December, set the overall discretionary funding cap for FY 2014 at $1.012 trillion. The plan replaces a total of $63 billion in sequester cuts over two years, with a $24 billion increase over FY 2013 for funding non-defense programs that include education, workforce training and CTE. The omnibus appropriations bill will set funding levels for individual programs like Perkins.
The government is currently operating on a short-term continuing resolution (CR) that funds federal programs at sequestration levels until Wednesday, January 15. On Tuesday, the House and Senate are expected to approve a three-day CR that will extend the current deadline to Saturday, January 18, in order to allow enough time for the omnibus appropriations bill to be voted on by both chambers and prevent another government shutdown. Please check back to the CTE Policy Watch blog for the latest updates on Perkins funding!
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