On Monday evening, President Trump and congressional leaders announced that they had reached an agreement on a budget deal that would raise the spending caps on both defense and non-defense discretionary (NDD) spending for the next two fiscal years (FY20 and FY21). Further, the deal would suspend the debt ceiling until July 31, 2021. If enacted, this bill will allow the federal government to continue to meet its interest obligations and keep our budget from deep spending cuts that are required under law.
More specifically under the new deal, the Defense Discretionary budget would increase to $738 billion next fiscal year – a $22 billion increase and a compromise between what the White House and House Democrats wanted. Non-defense spending will be increased by $27 billion next year, with $2.5 billion set aside for the decennial Census.
An important thing to note is that the NDD levels approved in the deal are lower than what the House had approved earlier in the year. This means that certain programs, potentially including Perkins Basic State Grants, will receive less funding than what the House has appropriated. Nonetheless, this deal provides a substantial increase for NDD funding in the coming fiscal year that creates at least some budget space for some targeted funding increases.
What’s Next?
The House will take up, debate, and vote on the passage of the bill this week before Members leave for the August recess, and then the Senate will take up the bill before their session ends in early August. It is believed that the bill will ultimately pass both chambers and be sent to the President’s desk, but not without some opposition from members in both parties. Conservatives members are thought to oppose the deal due to the increased spending without additional offsets. Conversely, some progressive Democrat may object because the NDD levels are lower than the previously approved House level.
If and when the deal is signed into law, the Senate will begin the appropriations process in order to have the 12 appropriations bills passed prior to the beginning of FY20, on October 1. Once the Senate passes its respective appropriations bills, they will “go to conference” with the House to resolve the differences between the two chambers' bills.
Take Action
Please visit our action center to ask your Members of Congress to support an increase in Perkins Basic State Grant funding in the upcoming FY20 budget.
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Posted by: zulqarnain | 09/23/2020 at 02:39 AM