COVID-19 Relief
Your voice is making a difference! As part of ongoing negotiations for the next COVID-19 package, Senate Democrats introduced the Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act (CCCERA) that included $1 billion in relief funding for adult education. While this is just a step in the process, it’s a very positive step!
Now we need to work together to ensure the final COVID-19 package – which is being negotiated right now – includes that $1 billion for adult education.
We expect negotiations to start picking up next week when Senate Republicans release their version of the next COVID-19 relief package. The goal is for a final package to be completed before August recess, but negotiations could continue into the month of August – thus delaying the Congressional recess.
Regular Appropriations Process
The full House Appropriations Committee marked up and passed the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS) bill on Monday, July 13. The Committee voted 30 to 22 to approve the Democrat-led bill. Thanks to your advocacy – the bill included $664 million (an increase of $7 million over FY2020) for the Adult Education State Grant program. While this bill is not final, it is great to see a proposed increase for adult education funding! The bill included positive report language as well, which called for coordination between career and technical education and adult education. We will continue to monitor if and when this bill moves to the House floor for consideration. As a reminder, this is not a final bill and still needs to be approved by the House and negotiated with the Senate.
As we have reported previously, the Senate appropriations process has been delayed and we do not expect all 12 appropriations bills to be signed and passed into law before the end of the fiscal year. There will likely be a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through the election.
Please reach out to your Members of Congress with this action alert to advocate for adult education funding by clicking the "Take Action" button below.