The House and Senate are expected to begin consideration of a temporary funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), later this week. The short-term measure is necessary to keep the federal government running past the fiscal year deadline on September 30, and will likely last through December 11. The CR will effetely put the federal budget on autopilot, continuing the current funding levels for Perkins and other education programs until a long-term agreement can be reached.
In July, the Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of its Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill that included a $5.4 million increase for Perkins! Though the Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee voted to advance it to the full committee, further action on the bill was postponed indefinitely. While the Republican leadership in House Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee never officially produced a bill, the committee’s Democrats recently announced their own funding measure that restores virtually every education and workforce training program to pre-sequestration levels.
ACTE has called on Congress to complete its work on a full-year appropriations bill that includes an increase in Perkins funding. Let your Members of Congress know that building our investment in CTE can’t wait!
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