Senate Passes Federal Spending Bill, Averting Government Shutdown
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
The Senate passed a continuing resolution (CR) on Friday evening that will fund the federal government until September 30, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown. President Donald Trump signed the legislation into law on Saturday.
The legislation, which passed with a 54-46 vote, funds the government at fiscal year (FY) 2024 levels, with a few exceptions. Specifically, at FY 2024 levels, the Department of Education (ED) was appropriated $79.1 billion for its programs, with federal student aid programs receiving $24.6 billion.
The new 99-page CR, though, does cut ED’s funding in two places: $202 million in higher education earmarks funded through the Fund for Improvement in Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) account, and $88 million in K-12 earmarks under the Innovation and Improvement account. Earmarks are funds designated by Congress for a specific recipient or project to be used in certain jurisdictions.
Over the past several days, Democrats have argued on the best path forward – a government shutdown or continuing to temporarily fund the government.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) expressed concerns with shutting down the government, claiming that the Republican party would use a shutdown to “cherry-pick which parts of government to reopen.” Meanwhile, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, voiced concerns about funding cuts in the CR, including cuts to Social Security.
“Now, as I’ve laid out in depth, the yearlong CR House Republicans sent our way hands a blank check to Elon Musk and Donald Trump to decide how our constituents’ taxpayer dollars get spent all while they cut funding working people count on each and every day,” Murray said in the Senate. “It is anything but a ‘clean CR.’”
A “clean” CR would extend the previous fiscal year’s funding levels without any changes or additions. While the CR introduced by House Republicans would fund some programs at FY 2024 levels, the bill cuts about $13 billion for nondefense spending. Various programs across the education continuum, including Pell Grants, FSEOG, and Federal Work-Study do not have specified funding levels in the CR. Without specified funding levels, the current administration could choose to either withhold funding, ask Congress to rescind it, or allocate the funding somewhere else.
Stay tuned to Today News for more updates on the appropriations process.
Publication Date: 3/17/2025
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