The Senate Appropriations Committee last week voted 29-2 to approve
the FY 2018 spending bill for Labor, Health and Human Services,
Education and related agencies, which includes a $100 increase in the
maximum Pell Grant award and substantial new funding for the National
Institutes of Health (NIH).
Overall, the legislation would provide $68.3 billion for the
Department of Education, a slight increase of $29 million over the
current level for FY 2017, which ends on Sept. 30. In contrast, the
House proposal would provide $66 billion for the agency, down $2.4
billion from the current budget. Both bills are more than the Trump
administration requested: The president wanted a $9.2 billion cut in
overall spending, down to $59 billion.
The Senate bill would increase the maximum Pell Grant award from
$5,920 to $6,020. This increase is significant because a provision that
annually increased Pell Grants by inflation expired last fiscal year,
and without the increase provided in the Senate bill, the maximum award
will stay flat for the first time in years. ACE joined 72 organizations
in a letter
(58 KB PDF) Sept. 5 urging Senate appropriators to provide a discretionary increase
for Pell Grants and to reject any further cuts to the program.
The Senate bill also includes small increases for other student aid
programs, including $953 million for TRIO, a $3 million hike over
current funding, and provides level funding for Federal Work-Study and
Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants. On the research front, the
bill would increase spending for NIH by $2 billion, an area ACE and the
higher education community fully support.
With a three-month temporary spending bill now in place
covering the first months of the upcoming fiscal year, Congress
continues to move slowly ahead with plans to pass regular spending bills
for FY 2018. Before the August recess, the House passed a measure tying
together four of the 12 spending bills needed to fund all federal
agencies, and this week passed a separate measure to fund the other
eight.