Reading First Politics

Last week, the House Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee marked up their fiscal year 2008 (FY08) spending bill. The bill provides $152 billion for Labor-HHS-Education, exceeding the President’s proposal by $20 billion. It appropriates $61.7 billion for education, $5.9 billion more than the White House requested. The Reading First program, however, was cut to $400 million, down $629 million from the previous fiscal year. Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) promised not to replace the spending cuts until the U.S. Department of Education (ED) answers for mismanagement of the program.

Last week, the House Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee marked up their fiscal year 2008 (FY08) spending bill. The bill provides $152 billion for Labor-HHS-Education, exceeding the President’s proposal by $20 billion. It appropriates $61.7 billion for education, $5.9 billion more than the White House requested. The Reading First program, however, was cut to $400 million, down $629 million from the previous fiscal year. Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) promised not to replace the spending cuts until the U.S. Department of Education (ED) answers for mismanagement of the program.
This week, Secretary Spellings sent a letter to Chairman Obey reminding him that the states are the victims of the cut. Spellings pointed out that Wisconsin would lose more than $8.5 million in grants for Reading First, grants that have proven to be very successful in his home state. Chairman Obey has not formally responded, but staffers insist that ED has to demonstrate better management of the program.
The appropriations process, of course, still has a long way to go. The Full Committee on Appropriations has yet to markup the bill and the Senate will begin their appropriations process soon after the House completes its work on the bill. This grants a lot of time for political statements, which is what many believe the House subcommittee funding cut represents.
Resources:
Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, http://appropriations.house.gov/Subcommittees/sub_lhhse.shtml
Author: DAD