Biden Signs Another Short-Term Spending Extension to Avert a Government Shutdown
By Hugh T. Ferguson, NASFAA Senior Staff Reporter
Federal lawmakers have a few more weeks to come to a compromise on the annual budget, as President Joe Biden signed off on another stop-gap spending plan that congressional leaders quickly pushed through both chambers to avert an impending partial government shutdown.
On Thursday, both the Senate and the House advanced their second two-tiered continuing resolution, which extends funding for one batch of the 12 spending bills through March 1, while a second batch, which includes the Labor-HHS-Education bill that funds the Department of Education (ED), is extended through March 8.
The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 77-18, while the House cleared the measure by a vote of 314-108.
Talks over spending levels have been stalled. The House proposed to slash funding for education-related programs with an overall request of $67.4 billion to ED, a reduction of $12.1 billion from the fiscal year 2023 enacted level and $22.6 billion less than the president’s budget request. The Senate, meanwhile, proposed $79.6 billion in discretionary funding for ED. This total was below the President’s budget request for education spending, but spared a number of higher education programs from steep cuts that were proposed in the package put forth by House Republicans.
This is now the third continuing resolution for the fiscal year 2024 spending bills.
Stay tuned to Today’s News for more details and get the latest information on the federal budget process, see NASFAA’s Federal Budget and Appropriations page and NASFAA’s budget FAQs.
Publication Date: 1/22/2024
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