Congress Suspends Debt Ceiling and Sets Spending Caps

On June 3, 2023, President Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 into law, suspending the “debt ceiling” until January 1, 2025, and setting the overall federal spending caps for the next two fiscal years.

Specifically, the law allows for an increase of 3.3% in defense spending in FY2024 but limits non-defense discretionary spending (which includes education programs like TRIO) to virtually the same level as FY2023. It also imposes a 1 percent limit on spending increases for most non-defense discretionary programs in FY2025. The House and Senate Appropriation Committees must fund bills for FY2024 funding based on these spending limits. 

While we have yet to determine the exact impact of this agreement on TRIO funding, it seems clear that Congress would have to cut another program for TRIO or any other non-discretionary program to receive an increase in Fiscal Year 2024. Despite this challenge, the TRIO community still seeks a $107 million funding increase for FY2024 for a total appropriation of $1.3 billion—the same amount proposed in the Biden Administration’s Budget Proposal.

To achieve this goal, our community must aggressively reach out to legislators and explain the need for increased funding to support our students and programs. It is critical that all TRIO supporters invite their Members of Congress to visit their students and programs this summer and throughout the year. The House and Senate will be in recess from June 26 through July 9 and the entire month of August. (A complete recess schedule for both chambers of Congress is available here).

We must demonstrate to them the successes of our students, the needs of our programs, and the worth of increasing funding for Federal TRIO Programs. 

Please contact Diane Shust at [email protected] and Zach Farmer at [email protected] if you need assistance contacting your Members of Congress.