Once again, Congress has kicked the can down the road, passing yet another stopgap bill to fund the U.S. government—the fourth since FY2024 started Oct 1. The latest measure requires Congress to pass six of the 12 annual funding bills by Friday at midnight to avoid a partial government shutdown. Funding for the rest of the government expires two weeks later at midnight, March 22.

The education funding bill, part of the second tranche, is threatened by deep cuts and poison bills crafted by MAGA Republicans that would, among other things, block the SAVE plan to cancel $1.2 billion in student debt for 153,000 low-income borrowers. We need to keep the pressure up and prevent that from happening! 

While lawmakers wrangled over funding, we made progress on other fronts.

NEA and allies opposed the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act (H.R. 6585), forcing Speaker Johnson to pull it before a floor vote. The current bill threatens to undermine Public Service Loan Forgiveness and other programs to ease student loan debt, incentivizes shoddy for-profit training programs, and imperils some students’ eligibility for Pell grants.

In a party-line vote, the Senate education committee advanced President Biden’s nomination of Julie Su as Secretary of Labor. Currently serving in an acting capacity, Su has dedicated her career to fighting for workers’ rights.

Last week was Public Schools Week. Congress helped celebrate it with a bipartisan resolution that honors educators and calls on lawmakers at all levels to strengthen our public schools. Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Glenn Thompson (R-PA), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the House version; Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the Senate version.

Tell Congress what you think!

In solidarity,