Thirty-five groups, including ACE, wrote (271 KB PDF) to
congressional leaders today encouraging them to finalize work on the FY
2017 appropriations process “in the most expedient and least disruptive
way” and opposing the cuts to student aid and research proposed by the
Trump administration.
The federal government is currently running on a stopgap-spending
bill known as a continuing resolution, which expires on April 28. By
that time, Congress must pass the funding bills or another stopgap
measure, or the doors of almost all government agencies will close.
The letter follows a request from President Trump to Congress last
month for nearly $18 billion in cuts to education, research and other
programs for the six remaining months of FY 2017 to finance construction
of a border wall and increase spending for the Department of Defense.
Among the requests is a $1.3 billion cut from the Pell Grant Program's projected surplus. ACE and other groups have advocated
(202 KB PDF) that the only proper use of the Pell surplus would be to strengthen the
program, including restoration of year-round Pell Grants.
These proposed cuts for FY 2017 come on top of the administration’s budget request for FY 2018,
which proposes taking nearly $4 billion in reserve funding from Pell.
Other student aid programs—including Supplemental Educational
Opportunity Grants and Teacher Quality Partnerships—would be eliminated.
Funding for the TRIO, GEAR UP and Federal Work-Study programs would be
significantly reduced, and funding for historically black colleges would
remain at current levels.