Dive Brief:
- Congress reached a $1 trillion agreement to keep the government open though the end of this fiscal year, and it includes increases for the National Institutes of Health, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, NASA, the Department of Energy's Office of Science and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.
- Year-round Pell is also restored in the new deal, which is expected to pass both chambers this week, and while over $1 billion is to be cut from the reserves, more than $9 billion will remain to support summer grants.
- Funding for TRIO and Gear Up programs, which prepare underserved students for college, is also increasing under the new measure.
Dive Insight:
Supporters of higher education can breathe a temporary sign of relief with the new budget proposal after seeing a FY2017 budget which preserves funding for research and student aid. The bipartisan agreement does cut education spending by $60 million overall, but maintains or increasing funding for several critical higher ed programs and grant-making agencies.
Questions remain over what will happen in September when it is time to debate President Trump's FY2018 proposal, however an increase in appropriations to many of the agencies he sought to cut should serve as a sign of good faith for what is to come at the end of the year.