Biden Administration Introduces FY 2022 Discretionary Budget, American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan
Over the past month, on the heels of passing the American Rescue Plan, we have now been provided with the Biden Administration’s outlay for the second and third stages of its “build back better” vision, in addition to the FY 2022 federal discretionary budget request.

• The American Jobs Plan (AJP) is largely focused on infrastructure, and the American Families Plan (AFP), has significant investments in child care, universal preschool and community college tuition, middle- and lower-income tax credits and increased nutrition assistance. Many critics and most Republicans believe that the bills are mostly to execute on political priorities for progressives. President Biden, as well as most Democrats, instead are lauding the bills as necessary, bold investments in American infrastructure, workforce, and children, and a “once-in-a-generation investment” as he stated in his first joint address to Congress. A few of the most pertinent pieces within the AFP and AJP for the professional, continuing, and online higher education community:
  • $109 billion for two years of tuition free community college, including for DACA recipients [AFP]
  • $12 billion for community college infrastructure and increasing access [AJP]
  • $80 billion to increase maximum Pell grant up to $1,400 [AFP]
  • $100 billion to expand broadband access [AJP]
  • $100 billion in workforce development funds [AJP]
  • $62 billion to increase retention at institutions that serve disadvantaged demographics [AFP]
  • $46 billion for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) [AFP]
• The FY 2022 discretionary budget was also released by the Biden Administration. It contains some increased investments in higher education, many of them a smaller mirror of what is in the legislative goals just discussed, including:
  • $3 billion for increasing Pell Grants by increasing maximum award by $400, including eligibility for DACA recipients
  • $30 billion increase to Department of Education, a 41% increase from the previous year
  • $10 billion for National Science Foundation, a 20% increase from the previous year
  • $3.7 billion for Workforce Investment Opportunity Act (WIOA) grants
  • $600 million for HBCUs, MSIs, and other low-resourced institutions to improve completion and retention

Presidential budget requests are generally a wish list and a signal of their future legislative priorities. Because discretionary spending is not able to be passed via reconciliation process, it would need 60 votes and bipartisan support in the Senate, making the proposed budget largely dead on arrival. Similarly, the American Jobs Plan and American Families Act both have their own hurdles to clear, and it is unclear whether Democrats can utilize the reconciliation process to pass them both with a 51-vote majority in the Senate.

However, the signals are clear: the Biden Administration wants to go big and go bold, and its education proposals are consequential. An additional two years of preschool and two years of community college would make the K-12 public education system expand to provide four additional years of free schooling to all Americans. The focus on massive infrastructure expansion, especially broadband access, would have broad implications for online education, creating better connections at brick and mortar universities around the country. Over the coming weeks, we’ll see a clearer view of what legislators believe can pass, and we’ll update you on what shakes out.