The Senate last week set a $14.7-billion spending ceiling for federal education programs next year, in passing a temporary appropriations measure for the fiscal year 1983.
Approval of the measure, which the House passed the week before, was necessary to keep federal agencies operating in the absence of regular appropriations bills, only one of which has been passed by both chambers of the Congress.
The new fiscal year began last Friday, the first day of October.
In a related action, both chambers approved a $1.1-billion budget for the National Science Foundation, including $15 million for new science-education programs on the pre-collegiate level.
The science bill, HR 6956, included instructions to the National Science Board’s Commission on Precollege Education in Mathematics, Science, and Technology to develop a plan to use the funds for improving science education in elementary and secondary schools.
The commission’s plan must be submitted to the House and Senate appropriations committees by Feb. 1, according to Raymond E. Bye Jr., the Congressional liaison for the science foundation.
The temporary spending measure, HJ Res 599, passed by the Senate late Wednesday was considered acceptable to the Reagan Administration, and the President had expressed his intention to sign the bill on Thursday, according to aides to the Senate Republican leadership.
If Mr. Reagan had vetoed the bill, federal agencies would have been forced to close down, as they did last year for one day, while the Congress and the Administration worked out a compromise on spending.
The “regular” appropriations bill for education programs has been approved by the House Appropriations Committee. Action on that bill is expected during the post-election session of the Congress, which is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.
President Reagan had proposed a $9.95-billion budget for the Education Department, which would represent a cut of one-third from this year’s $14.7-billion budget. The committee-approved budget is $14.3-billion.
