At the eleventh-hour on September 30, the House and Senate finally agreed to drop partisan amendments to a continuing resolution (CR) and fund the government until November 17. To avoid a government shutdown, Congress agreed to a CR that maintains current funding for all agencies at FY 2023 levels and provides $16 billion for emergency relief for recent natural disasters. The legislation does not include funding for Ukraine.

With the Friday before Thanksgiving as the next deadline, Congress has three possible paths it can take during the course of the next seven weeks: 1) finalize and pass FY 2024 spending bills; 2) pass another CR until December; or 3) face another possible shutdown.

The House and Senate remain billions of dollars apart on total spending levels, which has translated into deep cuts proposed for the federal student aid programs. At stake is next year’s funding for Federal Work-Study and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, which are proposed for elimination in the House, and each received $10 million cuts in the Senate. If the proposed cuts are enacted, low- and middle-income students would lose critical support to pay for college, which most institutions would not have the funding to replace.

The next steps in regular order for the education spending bills would be for each chamber to consider its bill on the floor, then meet as a conference committee to work out their differences. What is more likely to happen, however, are behind the scenes negotiations on the final spending amounts that take place after Thanksgiving but before Christmas.