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From Capital to CampusThe second session of the 106th Congress, which begins in January, is expected to be short—about 110 days, due to the presidential and Congressional primaries and elections—partisan, and important for education issues. Top-of-the-agenda items include the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the budget for Fiscal Year 2001 education spending, tax cut legislation, pension reform, and bankruptcy reform. President Clinton's State of the Union is tentatively scheduled for January 27. The Administration will submit the President's Fiscal Year 2001 budget to the 106th Congress on February 7. In the year 2000, NEA will continue to work with the 106th Congress, the administration, and the U.S. Department of Education for a strong investment in higher education and implementation of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998. Despite early threats to federal education funding, NEA scored a number of victories in advancing public education in the first session of the 106th Congress that ended in December. Education funding will increase by $2.5 billion, or 6.2 percent for fiscal 2000,the fourth consecutive yearly increase for education. Among key higher education programs receiving increases are Pell grants—the maximum award will reach $3,300 for FY2000—and GEAR-UP, the higher ed middle school partnership program, which will get an additional $80 million, bringing total funding to $200 million. Also increased: college work-study. The Higher Education Act of 1998 is now posted on the Education Department's Website: http://www.ed.gov/. To subscribe to the NEA E-mail Legislative Alert, send to lyris@list.nea.org this message: Subscribe hecongress. Or read the Alert on this web site. Share your legislative news with us. |
