House
Ed Committee Passes Bill to Improve Access to Assistive Technology
- FY '05 Budget Update
- Young Unveils 302(b)
Allocations For Appropriations Subcommittees
- Technical Amendments
to Senate IDEA Reauthorization Bill Available on Web
- Senate Republicans
Comment on IDEA Bill
- House Higher Education
Bills
- House Ed Committee
Passes Bill to Improve Access to Assistive Technology
- House Committee Introduces
Bill to Reauthorize Perkins Act
- Hiring People with
Disabilities in the Federal Government
FY '05 Budget Update
Reportedly, Senate Republican leadership is now floating a new plan to
end the logjam on the FY '05 budget resolution by pushing through a separate
vote on pay-as-you go that would make it more difficult to pass tax cuts
over the next five years. Senate Republican leadership hopes that this
new proposal will sway the votes of those Senate Republican moderates
who have held out on passage of an FY '05 budget resolution for over two
months.
It is uncertain if this proposal will gain traction among conservative
Senate Republicans and GOP House leadership, who adamantly oppose offsetting
tax cuts. Senate Majority Leader Frist (R-TN) has reportedly asserted
that if there is no choice, GOP leadership will move appropriations bills
without a budget.
Senate appropriators have been enlisted by Senate Republican leadership
to press the moderates to compromise on the deal after a meeting with
Senate Appropriations Chairman Stevens (R-AK) and GOP leaders Tuesday.
Without the passage of the FY '05 budget resolution, the Senate Appropriations
committee is limited to the $814 billion overall discretionary spending
cap set in last year's budget resolution, which is $7 billion below what
is in the FY '05 budget resolution and the House's FY '05 discretionary
spending cap deemed at $821.4 billion.
Chairman Stevens met with the 13 Senate subcommittee chairmen Tuesday
to firm up subcommittee allocations and discuss moving the FY '05 spending
bills. Reportedly, Stevens has told the cardinals to be ready to markup
their spending bills by mid-June.
House Appropriations Chairman Young (R-FL) unveiled his subcommittee 302
(b) allocations yesterday. The Labor, HHS, Education and Related agencies
subcommittee will receive an allocation of $142.3 million, $3.3 billion
over FY '05 and less than $300 million over the President's request. The
allocations are not final until they are ratified by a majority of the
Appropriations Committee members.
In a press release yesterday, Young mentioned that the "austere" funding
levels for the non-defense and non-homeland security subcommittees would
make it difficult for those bills to move.
The House Defense Appropriations subcommittee began marking up the FY
'05 Defense bill on Wednesday, and the House Homeland Security and Interior
Appropriations subcommittees were expected to mark up their bills on Thursday.
House GOP leaders plan to bring up a vote on budget process reform next
week. The base bill would be House Budget Chairman Nussle's, Spending
Control Act, H.R. 3973, reported out of the subcommittee in March. It
contains five-year discretionary spending caps set at the discretionary
spending levels in the budget resolution pending final passage in the
Senate. It would also require offsets for new entitlement spending, triggering
cuts to any spending that exceeds the caps imposed excluding Social Security
and Medicare.
Conservative House Republicans Hensarling (R-TX) and Ryan (R-WI) are working
with moderates like Kirk (R-IL), to offer amendments to the Nussle bill
to include some provisions in their own budget process bills. The conservative
bill, HR. 3800, in addition to imposing caps on discretionary spending,
would cap entitlement spending at the rate of inflation and would exclude
pay go rules.
According to a report by the Coalition of Budget Policies and Priorities,
student loans could be cut by $11 billion under the proposal.
Young Unveils 302(b) Allocations For Appropriations Subcommittees
House Appropriations Chairman Young on Tuesday released his subcommittee
302(b) allocations based on a total FYı05 discretionary spending cap of
$821.4 billion, which is even more austere than the president's already
lean budget request -- about $1.6 billion less than the administration's
FYı05 request of $823 billion. That total is $35.6 billion more than last
year's enacted level of $786 billion in FYı04 discretionary spending,
according to the Appropriations Committee. Young's allocations are largely
in line with the president's request, allowing for large increases in
defense, international aid, education and domestic security.
Each of the 13 spending bills would see varying degrees of increases or
remain flat, save the FYı05 Transportation-Treasury spending bill, which
at $25.4 billion would see a $2.9 billion drop from last year's enacted
level of $28.4 billion, and is $275 million less than the president's
request. Foreign Operations would be slashed $1.9 billion from the president's
request of $21.3 billion, although increased by $1.9 billion over last
year's $17.5 billion enacted total. Defense would see the largest increase
by far of the 13 spending bills the measure's allocation of $392.1 billion
would be $25.8 billion more than last year's enacted total of $366.4 billion.
It would be $450 million less than the president's FYı05 request. As explained
above, the allocations are not official until they are ratified by a majority
of the House Appropriations Committee members.
Below are the FYı04 enacted totals for each spending bill, followed in
order by the president's FYı05 request and House FYı05 allocation:
* Agriculture: $16.84 billion; $16.57 billion; $16.78 billion
* Commerce-Justice-State: $37.6 billion; $39.6 billion; $39.8 billion
* Defense (excluding supplementals): $366.4 billion; $392.6 billion; $392.1
billion
* District of Columbia: $542 million; $560 million; $560 million
* Energy and Water: $27.3 billion; $27.94 billion; $27.99 billion
* Foreign Operations: $17.5 billion; $21.3 billion; $19.4 billion
* Homeland Security: $29.2 billion; $31.1 billion; $30.8 billion
* Interior: $19.5 billion; $20 billion; $19.7 billion
* Labor-HHS: $139 billion; $142 billion; $142.3 billion
* Legislative Branch: $3.5 billion; $4 billion; $3.6 billion
* Military Construction: $9.3 billion; $9.6 billion; $10 billion
* Transportation-Treasury: $28.4 billion; $25.7 billion; $25.4 billion
* VA-HUD: $90.8 billion; $92.1 billion; $92.9 billion
To see a more detailed chart of these figures, go to: http://appropriations.house.gov/_files/302b1.pdf
Technical Amendments to Senate IDEA Reauthorization Bill Available
on Web
To see a complete list of the technical amendments made to S. 1248, the
Senateıs bill to reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA), go to the Thomas Web site at: http://thomas.loc.gov
Under the ³Congressional Record² heading, click on ³This Congress by Date.²
Scroll down to May 13, then click on ³Senate.² Scroll down to Number 61,
³Text of Amendments.²
Senate Republicans Comment on IDEA Bill
The Senate Republican Policy Committee on May 11 issued an analysis of
the Senateıs bill to reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA), S.1248, just prior to the billıs consideration on the Senate
floor.
Although the majority of the analysis went over the history of reauthorization
activity, and outlined the procedures followed under the Unanimous Consent
passed in the Senate, CEC found the Committeeıs comments about IDEA funding
very interesting. Weıre including that text below. To see the complete
analysis, go to: http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/May11IDEA2003KH.pdf
As you know, while debating the bill on the Senate floor, the Senators
voted on two different amendments related to full funding of IDEA: one
from Senators Harkin and Hagel, and one from Senator Gregg. The first
full funding amendment, sponsored by Senators Hagel and Harkin and strongly
supported by CEC, would have funded IDEA at an additional $2.2 billion
per year for 8 years until full funding was reached. But in last-minute
action, the sponsors changed the time parameters in the amendment to reach
full funding in 6 years.
The Harkin-Hagel amendment did not carry offsetting cuts for the mandatory
funding it would have required. Under Senate rules, the amendment needed
60 votes to waive the Budget Act requirement for such offsets. Just 4
votes shy of approval, the Senate failed to pass the Hagel-Harkin amendment
by a vote of 56-41.
Instead of voting for mandatory full funding, the Senate approved an amendment
by Senator Gregg that would increase authorized appropriations for IDEA
Part B funding by over $2 billion each year to reach $26.1 billion by
2011. CEC does not support this amendment because it simply provides annual
authorized funding levels for IDEA that essentially maintains the funding
status quo.
In commenting on the funding issue, the Senate Republicans pointed out
that Democrats had the opportunity to fully fund IDEA when they had control
of the Senate, but failed to do so.
³The most dramatic increases in IDEA funding have all occurred under Republican
control of Congress and/or the White House. Including this yearıs request,
IDEA funding since FY2001 will have increased by $4.7 billion or 75 percent.
The Republican Congress has already increased funding for IDEA by 224
percent since 1996. If the Presidentıs budget is enacted, it will have
increased by 376 percent. In comparison, during Democrat control of Congress
in the 1980s, IDEA spending was one of the few appropriations that didnıt
grow. In fact, in many of those years the federal government covered less
of the statesı APPE for children with disabilities than it had the year
before.²
Summaries of Legislation on Higher Education Recently Introduced in
the House of Representatives
H.R. 4823, the College Access and Opportunity Act, introduced by Congressman
Boehner:
On May 5, 2004, House Education and Workforce Chairman John Boehner and
Congressman Buck McKeon introduced the College Access and Opportunity
Act, which is a comprehensive bill designed to overhaul the student loan
structure of higher education and provide would-be teachers with incentives
to pursue a teaching career. Among other things, its authors claim that
the bill will:
· Increase loan limits for first and second year students
· Reduce origination fees for all borrowers to one percent over the life
of the bill
· More than triple loan forgiveness for highly qualified, high-demand
teachers
· Enhance rehabilitation for borrowers
· Increase the dependent student work protection
· Increase outreach to students and families
Of interest to special educators is the section in H.R. 4283 that would
provide student loan forgiveness of up to $17,500 for teachers who teach
in high-need areas such as special education
CEC supports efforts to increase student loan forgiveness to attract more
college students to the teaching profession, but we are concerned that
the skyrocketing cost of higher education will not allow potential middle-
and low-income students the opportunity to afford college even with loans.
The House Education and Workforce Committee is scheduled to have at least
one more hearing on the bill before it proceeds to mark-up. One point
of contention among members of the committee and throughout the House
has been on whether fixed- or variable-rate loans are more advantageous
for those seeking loans.
H.R. 4465, introduced by Congressman Stenholm on May 20, 2004:
Changes date in Section 428J(b) for loan forgiveness from 10/1/98 to 10/17/86
for Federal Family Education Loans, and Federal Direct Stafford Loans
and Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loans. Although the dates are
changed, the criteria for obtaining loan forgiveness remain the same.
In order to have a loan forgiven, a borrower must be employed as a full-time
teacher for 5 consecutive complete school years in a school that qualifies
for loan cancellation for Perkins loan recipients who teach in such schools.
The borrower, or teacher, must also be either employed as a secondary
school teacher who is teaching a subject area that is relevant to the
borrower's academic major as certified by the chief administrative officer
of the public or nonprofit private secondary school in which the borrower
is employed; OR be employed as an elementary school teacher and has demonstrated,
as certified by the chief administrative officer, knowledge and teaching
skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and other areas of the elementary
school curriculum. The borrower cannot presently be in default on any
other loan.
CEC supports H.R. 4465 and other legislative efforts to bring qualified
teachers into the classroom through student loan forgiveness.
House Ed Committee Passes Bill to Improve Access to Assistive Technology
Originally authorized in 1988, the Assistive Technology Act (ATA) provides
seed money for states to develop an infrastructure for distributing assistive
technology devices. Despite a provision to sunset the measure after 10
years, states continue to receive these funds. The intent of the House
legislation, HR 4278, is to preserve the state grants, but redefines their
purpose to reflect the top priority of directly helping individuals with
disabilities. The bill also directs the majority of funds from assistive
technology state grants to be spent on direct aid to individuals with
disabilities
The House has moved very quickly in implementing its version of assistive
technology reauthorization, HR 4278, the Improving Access to Assistive
Technology for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004. The bill was
introduced on May 5, 2004, and is considered bi-partisan and non-controversial,
as witnessed by the swiftness with which it has moved through the legislative
process. After its introduction, HR 4278 was marked up in subcommittee
on May 13, and then marked up again in the full Education and the Workforce
Committee on May 19 without amendments or a recorded vote. It is scheduled
to come to a vote in the full House in early June.
According to Senate HELP committee staff, the Senate will likely introduce
its AT reauthorization bill some time in early June.
Summary of HR 4278. HR 4278 establishes a program of AT grants
to states for purchasing AT devices and services. It requires the states
receiving grants to focus most of the funding on the AT needs of individuals
with disabilities and on direct assistance to those individuals in helping
them obtain AT devices and services. The bill allows states some options
in meeting the required goals of the program. This program replaces the
present program of continuity grants for states that received funding
for a limited period for technology-related assistance.
The grant funds are divided for the purpose of purchasing AT, protection
and advocacy, and national activities. Grants for purchasing AT must be
used to support activities to increase access to and funding for AT devices
and services, including the development of systems to provide AT devices
and services to individuals with disabilities of all ages, and that pay
for the devices and services. States may, but are not required, to use
the funds to finance AT device loan, reutilization, and/or demonstration
programs. Up to 25 percent of the grant funds may be used to support state
public awareness activities, information dissemination programs, technical
assistance training, and outreach and support.
States must submit an application to the Department of Education that
includes detailed descriptions of planned activities and measurable goals
relating to education, employment, telecommunication or information technology,
and community living.
Grant amounts to states are proportional to the stateıs population. Up
to $105,000 can be used by states for outlying areas for AT purchase,
and up to $30, 000 can be used for outlying areas for protection and advocacy
services. A state must establish a lead agency in order to receive funds,
and the bill outlines what other entities a governor may assign to administer
the funds and control their spending. These may include, but are not limited
to, commissions or councils, and/or public-private partnerships, etc.
The bill contains a number of administrative provisions designed to keep
track of the effectiveness of the state AT programs. HR 4278 requires
the Secretary of Education to report annually to the President and Congress
on several aspects of state AT programs, including:
v the number of applications for assistance received;
v the number of applications approved and rejected;
v the default rate;
v the range and average interest rate;
v the range and average income of approved loan applicants; and
v the types and dollar amounts of assistive technology financed.
The bill also contains provisions for national activities, which include
guidelines for establishing a national AT Internet site the establishment
and maintenance of national technical assistance efforts.
HR 4278 authorizes ³such sums as may be necessary² for fiscal year 2005
through 2010, except for national activities, which is authorized at $1,235,000
for any one fiscal year, and protection and advocacy, which is authorized
at $4,419,000 for any one fiscal year.
CEC has held numerous individual meetings with members of the House Education
and Workforce Committee and the Senate HELP Committee to advocating for
AT. CECıs AT recommendations, which were developed in conjunction with
its Technology and Media Division (TAM), have been sent to all the members
of the House and Senate education committees.
CEC is pleased that many of its recommendations are included in HR 4278.
For example, the bill acknowledges the important role the federal government
has played and should continue to play in financing AT over the past 15
years. HR 4278 notes that despite success in federal and state collaboration,
much still needs to be done. We are also pleased that the development
of a national Internet site for the dissemination of information will
make AT readily accessible to many individuals with disabilities, and
that there is a definition of what ³consumer responsive² means, so that
state programs will address the needs of individuals with disabilities
in a timely and compassionate manner. CEC will continue to advocate for
its members by encouraging lawmakers to incorporate its recommendations
into AT legislation. You can view CECıs AT recommendations by going to
http://www.cec.sped.org/pp/ATRecommendations.pdf
You can also send a letter to your Senator to tell him or her what CEC
recommends and what you think by going to http://capwiz.com/cek/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=5528541
House Committee Introduces Bill to Reauthorize Perkins Act
The U.S. House Committee on Education & the Workforce introduced a bill
(H.R. 4496) on Thursday to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Vocational
and Technical Education Act. The Perkins Act, which was most recently
reauthorized in 1998, provides federal assistance for secondary and postsecondary
vocational education programs at the high school level and at technical
and community colleges.
Perkins provides critical funding for programs that provide individuals
with the academic and technical skills needed to succeed in our knowledge-
and skills-based economy. The career technical education system, formerly
referred to as vocational technical education, prepares its students both
for post-secondary education and the careers of their choice.
CEC will be analyzing and summarizing the Houseıs bill over the next few
days, and we will send you our analysis in a future CEC Update.
Hiring People with Disabilities in the Federal Government
Troy R. Justesen, delegated the authority to perform the functions of
Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services (OSERS), U.S. Department of Education, is excited to share with
you the following message announcing new measures that will facilitate
the hiring of employees with disabilities in the federal government.
On Tuesday, May 25th, The Director of the Office of Personnel Management,
Kay Cole James, announced new measures that will facilitate the hiring
of employees with disabilities in the federal government.
Ms. James has proposed changes to the Schedule A hiring authority to reduce
the administrative burden of hiring people with disabilities into federal
government positions. The Schedule A authority permits a job seeker with
a disability to be hired outside the regular competitive process, allowing
a supervisor to fill a position quickly and encouraging hiring managers
to consider people with disabilities. Currently, the Schedule A. authority
requires that a person with a disability must be certified disabled and
qualified for the job by a vocational rehabilitation agency. Proposed
changes will add flexibility to the authority and allow other agencies
to certify jobseekers as disabled.
The OPM action represents another step the administration has taken towards
fulfilling an important goal of the President's New Freedom Initiative
- increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities. OPM
has asked for the Chief Human Capital Officers Council to comment on the
proposals before they are published in the Federal Register and
opened to public comment.
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