The AACC government relations team provided an overview of the year-end action in Congress and a peek into the year ahead. Topics included up-to-the-moment information on FY 2012 funding for Pell Grants and other key programs and the impact of the Budget Control Act now that the Supercommittee has failed to propose a deficit reduction plan. The webinar also covered the latest developments on the American Jobs Act, the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Program, Department of Education regulations, and more.

1. AACC Year -End Legislative Update
December 14, 2011
AACC Office of Government Relations and Research
David Baime, Senior Vice President
Jim Hermes, Director
Laurie Quarles, Legislative Associate

2. AACC Legislative Update
• FY 2012 Funding
• Budget Contr ol Act/Deficit “ Super Committee”
• Amer ican Jobs Act/Veter ans Legislation
• Wor kfor ce Legislation
• TAA CCCT Gr ant Pr ogr am
• Committee on Measur es of Student Success
• The Year Ahead

3. FY 2012 Labor -HHS-Education
Appr opr iations
• 3 of 12 Appr opr iations Bills Enacted
• 9 Bills to be Passed in Lar ge Package
• Continuing Resolution Expir es 12/16
• Senate Committee Appr oved LHHS Bill
• House Posted Bill – No For mal Action
Taken
• Level Funding for Many Pr ogr ams
– Per kins CTE pr ogr ams

4. Pell Gr ants
• $10 billion Pr ovided by Budget Contr ol Act
for FY 2012
– Left $1.3 billion shor tfall to be filled by
appr opr iator s
• House Dr aft Cuts Total $3.6 billion
– Eliminates eligibility for less-than-halftime and
ability-to-benefit students
– Lower s income pr otection allowances, r educing
eligibility

5. Pell Gr ants
• House Cuts, cont’ d
– Cuts eligibility fr om 18 to 12 full-time semester s
– Changes auto-zer o EFC fr om $30 K to $15 K
– Counts EI TC and other funds as income

6. Pell Gr ants
• Senate LHHS Bill Took Much Differ ent
Appr oach
– Savings by eliminating student loan inter est
subsidy dur ing gr ace per iod
– House Budget Committee r uling later r educed
these savings to $400 million, leaving $900 million
to be saved by other means

7. Wor kfor ce Tr aining Funds
• House Bill Slashes WI A Pr ogr ams by $2.2
Billion, or 75%
– Advance funding, which is bulk of WI A
pr ogr am funding, eliminated
– Shift fr om pr ogr am year to fiscal year given as
r eason
– Cuts would be extr emely difficult to r estor e next
year , likely per manent
• Senate: Level Funding

8. Minority Serving Institutions
Funding (in $ millions)
Type of Minority-
Serving Institution Current Proposed Change
HEA Title Funded
V Hispanic 104.4 17.4 -87.0
III Historically Black 237.0 152.0 -85.0
III Tribal 26.8 0 -26.8
III Alaska Native and 13.4 0 -13.4
Native Hawaiian
III Predominantly Black 9.6 0 -9.6
III Asian 3.2 0 -3.2
American/Pacific
Islander
III Native American, 3.2 0 -3.2
nontribal
Totals $397.6 $169.4 -$228.2

9. Final FY 2012 LHHS Bill
• Deal on Bill Repor tedly Reached, But Not
Yet Filed
– Dispute over payr oll tax holding up spending
bill
– One-week CR likely needed
• Pell Gr ants – Repor ted Cuts
– Cuts eligibility fr om 18 to 12 full-time semester s
– Changes auto-zer o EFC fr om $30 K to $20 K
– Eliminates eligibility for ATB students

10. Budget Contr ol Act
• Maj or Pr ovisions
– Feder al debt limit r aised in stages by $2.1 T
– Cr eated 10-year discr etionar y caps
– Pr ovided $17 B for Pell over next two FYs by
eliminating in-school inter est subsidies on
gr aduate student loans
– Requir es vote on Balanced Budget
Constitutional Amendment by 12/31/11
– Established Joint Select Committee on Deficit
Reduction— “ Super Committee”

11. Budget Contr ol Act
• Maj or Pr ovisions, cont’ d
– Discr etionar y caps in FYs 12-21 r educe
spending by $890 billion over 10 year s
– For FY 2012 and FY 2013, separ ate spending
caps for secur ity and non-secur ity spending
– FY 2012 cap = $1.043 T ($7B below FY 2011 but
$24 B higher than House FY 2012 budget)

12. BCA Sequestr ation
• Requir es Cuts of $984 billion for Fiscal
Year s 2013 – 2021
– $1.2 tr illion minus $216 in inter est savings
– $109 billion per year – split evenly between
defense and non-defense
– Discr etionar y funding will exper ience an acr oss
the boar d cut for FY 2013
– For FYs 2014 – 2021, caps will be lower ed and
appr opr iator s have discr etion wher e to cut

13. BCA Sequestr ation
– Mandator y funding subj ect to acr oss-the-boar d
cuts thr ough 2021
• Complex for mula to deter mine exact amounts,
dependent on pr evious year ’ s outlays
– Many pr ogr ams exempt fr om sequestr ation,
including Pell Gr ants (discr etionar y por tion
2013 only)
– Because of exemptions, r oughly 75% of cuts
would come fr om discr etionar y pr ogr ams
– Cuts of appr oximately 15% to discr etionar y
spending fr om the cur r ent baseline

14. BCA Sequestr ation
• Sequestr ation Not Until Januar y 2013, Leaving
Congr ess One Year to “ Fix” Things
– Obama vow to veto legislation r educing cuts
– Attempts to avoid defense cuts
– Fur ther attempts at “ Gr and Bar gain” ?

15. Amer ican Jobs Act
• $447 Billion Over all
– $253 billion tax cr edits and cuts
– $196 billion spending
• Four Main Sections
– Tax cuts for small businesses
– Tax cuts and spending to encour age hir ing
– Unemployment insur ance r efor m and Pathways
Back to Wor k fund
– Middle class tax r elief

16. Amer ican Jobs Act—CC Facilities
• $5 Billion Pr oposed in FY 2012 for
Community College Moder nization and
Heavy Equipment
– Mor e Than ½ of AGI Funding
• Funding Awar ded to States on Basis of
Relative Community College Enr ollment
• States Lar gely Fr ee to Allocate Funds as
They See Fit

17. Amer ican Jobs Act
• Senate Voting on I ndividual Pieces of
Package
– Tax cr edits for hir ing veter ans only par t of
package to pass to date
• Par t of lar ger bill that also gr anted an extr a year of
Montgomer y GI Bill benefits to older veter ans
– All other bills failed to clear filibuster
– Vote on school and community college
moder nization funds – FAST Act – hoped for
next year

18. WI A Reauthor ization
• House Republican Reauthor ization Bills
– H.R. 3610: Consolidates up to 33 j ob tr aining
pr ogr ams
• Response to GAO r epor t
– H.R. 3611: Focus on business engagement
• Would extend business maj or ity on wor kfor ce
investment boar ds
• Collins-McCaskill Payr oll Tax Cut Bill
– Would r equir e OMB to r ecommend pr ogr am
consolidation; half of savings dedicated to deficit
r eduction.

19. TAACCCT Gr ant Pr ogr am
• Fir st Round Gr ants
– Ranged fr om $2.5 million to near ly $25 million
– DOL still wor king with some states to finalize
$2.7 million gr ants
– Fir st r ound heavily favor ed consor tia gr ants,
r eflecting applicant pool
• Second Round Announcement Expected
Next Month
• No I mminent Thr eats to Funding – But Stay
Vigilant!

20. Committee on Measur es of Student Success
• Cr eated by Congr ess in 2008 HEA Amendments to
Review and Suggest Changes to Two-Year
Gr aduation Rate Calculation
• Repor t Submitted to ED Secr etar y
• Substantial Modifications to Cur r ent Calculation
Recommended
• ED Will Next Decide How to I mplement; I PEDS
Route Likeliest

21. Committee on Measur es of Student Success
• Recommendations I nclude:
– I ncluding tr ansfer s in completion r ate
– Adding par t-time students to r epor ting in
separ ate cohor t for par t-time students
– Separ ate cohor t for r emedial students
– Longer time-fr ame for tr acking
• AACC Has Submitted Comments and Will
Wor k to I nfluence I mplementation

22. The Year Ahead
• Budget I ssues Will Dominate 2012 Congr essional
Agenda
• Looming Sequestr ation
• Obama Budget
• Pr esidential Election Politics
• Bush Tax Cuts Due to Expir e in 2012
• Br oader Economic Developments—Likely to
Rock US
• Pr one to Br inksmanship

23. Contact I nfor mation
• David Baime
– 202-728-0200 x224, dbaime@aacc.nche.edu
• Jim Her mes
– 202-728-0200 x216, j her mes@aacc.nche.edu
• Laur ie Quar les
– 202-728-0200 x249, lquar les@aacc.nche.edu