This morning, Sarah Abernathy, Deputy Executive Director of the Committee for Education Funding, is testifying on the importance of federal education investments to the nation’s economic and national security at a 10am House Budget Committee hearing in room 210 Cannon House Office Building. The testimony describes public support for investments in education, the returns on these investments to both students and society, the need for greater education funding and how the caps on non-defense discretionary (NDD) funding have constrained those investments, and why Congress therefore needs to raise the NDD caps. Without an increase in the cap, NDD funding will be cut by $55 billion (9 percent) in the coming fiscal year; the effective cut to existing NDD programs is actually 11% when you factor in new funding Congress needs to provide for the decennial Census and the VA Choice program next year. 

The full testimony is available on the CEF website here.

NDD United (the organization that CEF co-chairs that supports greater non-defense discretionary funding for the range of NDD programs) is urging people to tweet using #RaiseTheCaps in reference to the NDD caps, and #CutsHurt. 

The House Budget Committee will webcast the hearing here. You can retweet the livestream once the Committee tweets the link in the morning.  If you direct your tweets at the House Budget Committee by tagging them (include “@HouseBudgetDems” in your tweet), they are more likely to see it and retweet it and have it reach their 12,500 followers. Below is a list of Twitter accounts to consider retweeting during the hearing. Please feel free to retweet others with your photos of student in labs or classrooms, teachers, etc., or relevant charts or artwork!

@edfunding – CEF’s Twitter account.  We will be tweeting facts, quotes, and charts during the hearing

@HouseBudgetDems – the House Budget Committee majority. It will share the livestream of the hearing, and tweet key statements by Members of Congress and witnesses

@NDDUnited – NDD United will share how funding cuts have impacted vital services