In the last two days of this week progress appeared to slow down on two critical fronts in the U.S. Senate.
First, the tentative bipartisan agreement reached earlier this week with regard to student loan interest rates was significantly weakened after the Congressional Budget Office estimated the agreement’s costs at $22 billion over the next decade. The higher-than-expected cost estimate, which would make the loans unprofitable for the government, threatens the deal.
Second, the full U.S. Senate appropriations committee passed a 2014 spending bill that largely mirrored the funding levels for education proposed by the subcommittee earlier this week. The largest difference in the bill that was passed out of the full committee was a reduction in the funds allocated to the Race to the Top program for college affordability. The bill passed out of committee reduces the funding levels from $400 million to $150 million.
Funding for other education and research programs stayed the same in the full committee’s version of the bill. The bill allocates $850 million for the TRIO programs, which help low-income, first-generation college students prepare for postsecondary education. Under the bill, the total maximum Pell Grant would rise by $140 to $5,785.