Senate Appropriations Panel’s Cuts to Reading First Are Less Sharp Than in House Plan
The U.S. Department of Education’s fiscal 2008 budget would increase under a measure approved overwhelmingly today by the Senate Appropriations Committee , but many of President Bush’s priorities, such as Reading First, would be slated for cuts.
The department would receive $60.1 billion, a 4.5 percent increase over its $57.5 billion fiscal 2007 budget, and a 7.3 percent increase over President Bush’s $56 billion proposal for fiscal year 2008. While the measure would reduce funding for the Reading First program , the cut is not as drastic as the 61 percent reduction proposed by a House Appropriations subcommittee earlier this month.
The Senate measure, approved 26-3 by the Appropriations Committee, would cut nearly $230 million from Reading First, a 22.3 percent decrease from the $1.1 billion it is receiving in fiscal 2007. Lawmakers want to make sure management problems cited in a series of reports by the Education Department’s inspector general have been fixed before approving increases for the program, said Jenny Thalheimer, a spokeswoman for Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chairman of the subcommittee...
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