2009 Budget Resolution with More Money for Education Approved by Senate
The U.S. Senate approved an $84.3-billion discretionary spending blueprint for the 2009 fiscal year that greatly increases federal funds for education as well as scientific research, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Senate Approves Budget Blueprint With More Money for Education and Science,” June 4, 2008).
The $84.3-billion figure represents an increase of 5.6 percent, or $8.2 billion, more than the current 2008 budget, and $8.4 billion, or 6 percent, more than the budget President Bush proposed for 2009. Since the House of Representatives is expected to pass the resolution this week, legislators may begin debating specific spending bills, such as increases to the federal Pell Grant program, as early as next week.
However, these measures probably will not make it through Congress before the new president is elected in November. Bush has threatened to veto any bills that exceed his spending limit, so lawmakers anticipate the possibility of financing education and other programs through a series of ongoing resolutions until a new president takes office.
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