On Thursday, July 27, the Senate Committee on Appropriations released its Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) funding bill for fiscal year 2023. The legislation includes a $138 million (12%) increase for the Federal TRIO Programs for FY23 (Program Year 2023-2024), funding down the slate language, and language on TRIO and Justice-Impacted Students.
The Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Report language directs the Department of Education to fund high-scoring, unfunded applications in recent TRIO grant competitions, stating:
“The Committee directs the Department to allocate increases…and could include funding down the slate of high-quality applications from prior year grant competitions.”
In addition, the report includes language on TRIO and Justice-Impacted Students stating, “The Committee recognizes that Educational Opportunity Centers [EOC] have a long history of helping justice-impacted adults to enroll in college…and encourages the Department to provide technical assistance and guidance to EOCs on best practices for supporting justice-impacted students…and consider how other TRIO programs can support justice-impacted students.”
This announcement signals that the Senate is following a process like previous years where the Majority releases a draft with no intention of holding a markup or bringing the bill up for a vote. The education funding levels in this bill are generally lower across the board when compared to those in the House LHHS bill. Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said, “I encourage good faith, bipartisan negotiations on toplines to resume with the urgency that this moment requires.”
It is unlikely Congress will agree on government funding before the end of the federal fiscal year in September. Therefore, they will pass a short-term continuing resolution to level fund all current government programs. This resolution will allow additional time for our community to engage with their Members of Congress. We will continue to advocate for the $161 million increase for TRIO included in the House bill. You will recall that the House Appropriations Committee passed an LHHS bill with a $161 million increase for TRIO.
Thank you for your advocacy. We must keep up the fight as this bill moves through Senate negotiations and final passage.