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To: All Members of the National Rehabilitation Association
From: Fredric Schroeder, Executive Director
Subject: Washington Alert – FY 2018 Appropriations and FY 2019 President’s Budget
There is a good bit of confusion around the current year’s funding and the President’s FY 2019 budget request. Here is information we hope will help.
First, current appropriations: We are under a fifth continuing resolution funding the federal government through Friday, March 23, 2018. The confusion comes from the Senate’s February 7 announcement that it had reached an agreement on a two-year budget deal. Regardless of the Senate agreement, the continuing resolution only funds the government through March 23, 2018.
Second, the President’s fiscal year 2019 budget includes the statutory cost-of-living increase for the vocational rehabilitation program. That means a small increase in funding over the current year’s level. What is not known is how budget deficits may end up taking money away from vocational rehabilitation and other domestic programs through what is called budget reconciliation. The budget reconciliation process is what triggers sequestration or automatic cuts to domestic spending programs. At this point, there is no reason to be alarmed; however deficit spending will continue to put pressure on Congress to trim spending wherever it feels it can.
As was the case for FY 2018 (current year), the President is requesting no funds for Supported Employment State Grants; however the President’s budget includes an increase for Special Demonstrations to establish an Apprenticeship technical assistance center. All other programs under the Rehabilitation Services account are level funded.
The link to the President’s FY 2019 budget justification for the Rehabilitation Services account is below.
https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget19/justifications/i-rehab.pdf
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