Temporary Budget Bill Would Cut State Grant Program and Higher Ed Earmarks

Republican leaders in the U.S. House Friday released temporary budget legislation that would end the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership Program and cut $129 million in earmarked funds distributed in 2010 through the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. The measure, which would extend funding for the federal government until March 18, is designed to give Congressional leaders and the White House more time to reach agreement on spending legislation for the rest of the 2011 fiscal year, which ends in September. A failure to reach agreement would result in a government shutdown, and the parties seem far apart right now, with the Obama administration and, to a lesser extent, Senate Democrats opposed to the deep cuts contained in the appropriations measure the House passed this month. The temporary measure introduced on Friday would cut $4 billion over all; $64 million of that would come from eliminating LEAP, which provides federal matching funds to states that use their own money for need-based aid. President Obama's 2012 budget would eliminate that program, too. Unlike the House's 2011 bill, the temporary measure would not cut funds for the Pell Grant Program.