A major gap between Democrats’ and Republicans’ thinking on appropriations now makes it inevitable that Congress will pass a temporary measure — the all-too-common “continuing resolution” (CR) — to keep the government running at current spending levels.
A major jolt came last week when Senate appropriators scrapped a plan to mark up legislation to fund federal education and job training programs — the key Labor, HHS and Education funding bill that is so important to community colleges. Partisan disagreements focused on a proposed Democratic amendment regarding federal funding for family planning, but broader disagreements on funding levels have also gummed up Senate action.
Partisan differences were sharpened as well by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Richard Shelby’s (R-Alabama) proposed funding allocations for each of the 12 appropriations subcommittees. The plan calls to move a significant part of the funding from domestic appropriations bills (which include money for education and job training) to the Homeland Security bill, which includes funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall.