More than 3,000 National, State, and Local Organizations Urge Congress to Avoid Further Cuts to Nondefense Discretionary (NDD) Programs

February 2013

In July 2012, 3,000 national, state and local organizations representing the breadth of support for “nondefense discretionary” programs signed a letter urging Congress to avoid sequestration through a balanced approach to deficit reduction that did not include further cuts to NDD programs.

With the enactment of the American Taxpayer Relief Act, sequestration was delayed for two months until March 1. But the threat to these important programs remains very, very real.

Leaders of “NDD United” have decided to update the NDD 3000 letter to reflect recent events and re-open for additional signatures! The letter will be sent up to the Hill mid-February in advance of the sequester deadline.

Appropriations Update

October 2012

Each year, Congress is required to pass 12 appropriations bills that fund all the departments of the federal government and send them to the President for signature by September 30. This year is especially difficult because three major funding decisions have come together in what commentators are calling “The Fiscal Cliff.” The decisions that Congress makes on each of these three independent, yet interconnected, fiscal issues will have a momentous impact on the levels of funding that federal programs will receive this year, and in the coming decade. These three issues are: (1) annual appropriations levels; (2) extending the Bush tax cuts; and (3) sequestration.

Annual Appropriations

Congress and the President were originally prepared to spend $1.109 trillion for all discretionary programs for the coming year. In August 2011, however, the Republicans and Democrats had a major standoff over the national debt. Congress and the President came within hours of defaulting on our national debt obligations for the first time in history. To avoid default, a deal was set out to dramatically cut spending over the coming decade. For the coming year (FY2013), they agreed to cut spending from $1.109 trillion down to $1.047 trillion, a decrease of $62 billion (6%). Moreover, they agreed to cut discretionary spending by $841 billion compared to the baseline over the coming decade. These spending cuts were enacted in the Budget Control Act of 2011.

Earlier this year the House and Senate Appropriations Committees set out to write the appropriations bills that fund the government. However, with the Senate Committee drafting bills that restrained funding to the $1.047 trillion funding level, and the House Committee drafting bills at a level $19 billion lower, the approved bills were far apart. Recognizing that difficult decisions had to be made, and with very few legislative days remaining before the end of the fiscal year, Republican and Democratic leaders decided to cut a deal, delaying final decisions until after the election.

At the time this publication went to print, Congress had returned for a brief September session and was expected to approve a six-month Continuing Resolution (CR), which will fund the government for half of the year at the $1.047 trillion level. This will delay all funding decisions until March 2013. In the meantime, congressional leaders have agreed to allow all federal programs to be funded at the higher level ($1.047 trillion) that had been signed off on last August.

With this issue put on hold, Congress may return after the November elections for a lame duck session to consider the two other big fiscal issues facing our nation: tax cuts and sequestration spending cuts.

Tax Cuts

Regarding tax cuts, there has been no agreement on an acceptable outcome. If no agreement can be reached, the existing Bush tax cuts will expire for all Americans at the start of the year and Americans will return to paying previous tax levels. On August 22, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a semi-annual report predicting that economic recovery would be halted and the nation could fall into a recession if Congress failed to halt the expiration of these tax cuts. It should be noted that CBO’s conclusion also relied upon automatic budget decreases scheduled for January 1 as a result of sequestration.

Sequestration

Perhaps the biggest unknown now is what will happen as a result of the planned sequestration. As part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, Congress and the President agreed to cut approximately $2 trillion from the budget over the next decade. Part of those cuts ($841 billion over a decade) came directly out of discretionary spending. The remaining $1.2 trillion in budget savings were to come from some combination of tax increases, entitlement cuts, and other spending cuts.

A bipartisan “supercommittee” was named last year to recommend cuts, but was unsuccessful. As a result, an across-the-board cut to discretionary programs is due to automatically occur, beginning in January of the coming year. This process is called sequestration. These cuts will amount to approximately $110 billion each year over the coming decade. These cuts are so draconian that nearly all Republicans and Democrats in Congress are adamant that they must be avoided. It is worth taking a moment to reflect on the impact of a final funding deal on domestic discretionary spending. Mandatory spending and defense spending, combined, take up 82% of the federal budget. This leaves 18% of the budget left to fund all other federal spending.

Once we know who has been elected President and which party controls the House and Senate, Congress may return to Washington in late November for a lame duck session. It is unknowable if any progress will be made at that time on tax cuts and sequestration spending cuts. If one party manages to take control of the White House and both houses of Congress, then quick work can likely be made on a final agreement. However, in this age of divided government, that does not appear likely.

Many commentators do not believe, short of a conclusive victory for one party in the elections, that Congress is likely to make great progress in the lame duck session. Instead, everything will probably be put on hold for a new Congress and President to make decisions in the early months of next year. This would allow the tax cuts to expire and the spending cuts to go into effect. However, this would not impair Congress and the President’s ability to put a permanent solution into effect early next year.

Language Profession Pens Letter to President

September 2012

ACTFL led a coalition of language education associations which recently sent a letter to President Obama asking him to support languages in his 2014 budget request, which he is currently preparing. If Obama is re-elected, this will become the budget blueprint he submits to Congress in early 2013. No matter what the outcome of the fall election, it’s important to engage the administration to show Congress that these vital concerns have the support of the executive branch. Fifty-four national, regional, and state organizations signed on to the letter, including the Joint National Committee for Languages & National Council for Languages and International Studies (JNCL-NCLIS) and the Modern Language Association (MLA). Read the letter.

ACTFL Representatives, Including Teacher of the Year, Visit Capitol Hill

May 2012

At the Joint National Committee for Languages–National Council for Languages and International Studies (JNCL-NCLIS) Annual Legislative Day and Delegate Assembly in May, language educators and leaders from throughout the United States gathered in Washington, DC, to meet with legislators and their staff members and advocate for language education policy.

Among those who visited Capitol Hill were 2012 ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year Yo Azama, ACTFL President Dave McAlpine, members of the ACTFL Board of Directors, and ACTFL Executive Director Marty Abbott. Azama visited the offices of California Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinsten, as well as Representative Sam Farr, along with California Language Teachers Association Executive Director Lorraine D’Ambruoso and ACTFL Board Member Duarte Silva. While unable to meet with the legislators in person, they were able to speak at length with staff members to discuss the importance of language education.

Azama said that these conversations were quite substantive and informative, particularly the excellent conversation with the staffer for Rep. Farr. “They were really knowledgeable and listened to what we had to say,” he noted. Azama also took the opportunity to extend an invitation for the legislators to visit his Japanese classroom in Salinas, CA.

The group also visited the Department of Education where they were welcomed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Azama said that meeting with Duncan was a highlight and that he was very approachable and friendly. “He told me many times during our conversation to keep pushing the issue of language education,” said Azama. “He definitely seemed interested in keeping the dialogue going.”

After welcoming the ACTFL delegation, Duncan turned to Twitter to share his impression of the visit. From @arneduncan, he tweeted: “Yo Azama, the Nat’l Language Teacher of the Yr, stopped by today. Reminder that to compete in global economy, students need add’l languages.” Read more about the visit.