Last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law, a second continuing resolution (CR) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 appropriations bills that extended funding through December 20, 2019. The CR will continue to fund the majority of government programs at FY 2019 levels, while providing some programs additional funds to meet specific demands, like an increase in funding for the Census Bureau in the lead up to the 2020 Decennial census.
In addition to the CR, over the weekend, House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) came to an agreement on the 302(b) allocations for the twelve spending bills. The 302(b)s are the top-line numbers for each of the twelve bills (such as the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill), with specific program levels still being negotiated at the subcommittee level. The deal sticks to the defense and nondefense caps agreed to as part of the two-year budget deal passed back in July. Under the deal, total nondefense spending was set at $632 billion, while total defense spending was set at $738 billion.
While this marks a major breakthrough in the appropriations process, which has been at a standstill for much of the fall, it still does not clear the road for easy passage of FY 2020 appropriations bills. Congressional leadership still need to address a myriad of policy issues before these bills are signed into law, including border wall funding and the ability for President Trump to reprogram funds under emergency powers; several abortion provisions; the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention beds; among other partisan sticking points.
What’s Next?
Now that the top-line numbers have been set, the subcommittees are able to go to work on the line-item funding decisions for each program, like Perkins Basic State Grants. Sources close to the process have said that Chairmen Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) have expressed a desire to pass all 12 appropriations bills before the CR expires on December 20. This means Congress has less than a month, and only 15 session days, to work out the details in the bills, get them through both chambers, and signed into law by the president. Failing to do so would more than likely result in one of two scenarios – either an additional CR into the new year, or the passage of a “crominbus.” A crominbus is a spending bill that combines a short-term continuing resolution for some federal programs and a long-term omnibus to cover all remaining federal spending. As the process moves forward, it is important to continue to emphasize the importance of federal funding for CTE to your Members of Congress!
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