After lengthy debate, the Senate late last week was poised to pass a budget resolution that calls for about $500 million more in discretionary spending for education, job training, and social services than President Clinton proposed in his fiscal 1995 budget.
The Senate blueprint, S Con Res 63, recommends $44.5 billion in discretionary spending and $13.4 billion in entitlement funding, for a total of $57.9 billion for the broad category. The President proposed about $58 billion, including about $44 billion in discretionary spending.
The figures are not binding on appropriators, who use them as guidelines in allocating money among specific programs.
By approving an amendment by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., on a 93-to-5 vote, senators boosted by $320 million the discretionary total for the category that includes education. Spending increases were recommended for Head Start and the child care block grant.
However, the measure also includes a provision--added in the committee by Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Jim Exon, D-Neb.--that would reduce existing spending caps by about $43 billion in budget authority over the next five years, increasing restrictions on education and other discretionary spending.
The measure must be reconciled with a companion bill approved by the House last month, which calls for $57 billion in spending for the category that includes education.
Service Deadline: The Corporation on National and Community Service has extended the application deadlines for the first year of its service programs.
National nonprofit organizations, federal agencies, professional corps programs, and multistate programs are eligible for a total of $49 million. The deadline has been extended to April 29.
The application deadline for state service programs, which are eligible for $51 million, was extended to June 22.
The deadline for the Learn and Serve America K-12 program, which has $18 million available for service-learning programs in schools, has been extended to April 22. The new deadline for community-based service-learning programs is May 27, and higher-education institutions applying for service-learning grants have until April 25.
