Late last week, Congress approved and President Obama signed a continuing resolution (CR), barely avoiding a government shutdown, The Hill reported. The new stopgap spending measure funds the federal government through April 28, 2017.
The bill sets up a spending fight next year within President-elect Donald Trump's first 100 days in office that will test his promise to cut deeply into the federal deficit by eliminating what he calls "tremendous waste, fraud and abuse," according to the Hill. Senators will have to reach an agreement on spending levels for the remainder of the 2017 fiscal year while juggling the confirmations of various executive branch nominees and perhaps a Supreme Court nominee. They will also be working on regulatory reform and a budget to pave the way for tax reform.
Republican senators, including members of the leadership, had hoped Trump would instead accept a yearlong omnibus spending bill or a yearlong stopgap funding resolution to clear the decks for 2017 for those other priorities.
The approved CR leaves out new funds for summer Pell Grants, disappointing advocates who made that item a priority heading into the lame-duck session, Inside Higher Ed reported. Restoring year-round grants had been a goal of both parties since an agreement in 2011 to cut summer Pell over funding shortfalls. With a $7.8 billion surplus in the program, higher education stakeholders and congressional Democrats had called on appropriators to use the lame-duck session to increase the value of the grants and restore funding for summer semesters.
The stopgap measure does, however, include a provision that seeks to block student veterans from using their GI Bill benefits on career programs that do not lead to successful employment, according to Inside Higher Ed. The Career-Ready Student Veterans Act, which was attached to the continuing resolution, prohibits institutions from receiving GI Bill benefits if their programs fail to meet the requirements needed for required licensing exams or certification in order to enter the chosen career field.
Related Links
The Hill
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/309788-senate-passes-stopgap-funding-bill-averting-shutdown
Inside Higher Ed
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/12/08/summer-pell-left-out-congressional-spending-bill
Inside Higher Ed
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/12/13/bill-seeks-guarantee-veterans-are-career-ready