������Ƶ

The ������Ƶ Foundation’s released an issue brief detailing the completion of the fiscal year 2013 appropriations process and the start of 2014 budgeting. The brief explores congressional budget actions over the past year and describes their effects on federal education programs.

Congress is operating within a new budgeting regime, created by the Budget Control Act of 2011, that included across-the-board spending cuts mid-2013 and that, absent legislative action, imposes lower spending limits next year. Now is an opportune time to assess how federal education programs have been, and likely will be, affected by these developments.

This ������Ƶ Foundation issue brief includes:

• An explanation of the Budget Control Act of 2011 and its implications for education programs

• Details on key 2013 budget developments, including the “fiscal cliff” and sequestration

• An examination of the president’s 2014 education budget request and a comparison between the president’s request and the House and Senate budget resolutions

• A preliminary analysis of budget issues in 2014 and the years ahead, including student loan interest rate reform

As the fiscal year 2014 budget process advances, it is essential that education policymakers, advocates, researchers, and others understand the broader budget picture and how it may affect key education programs. This issue brief provides a simple, comprehensive resource for such stakeholders.