Good Afternoon MEEOA Members! 

The last couple of weeks have been a bit slower and less exciting since receiving new GANs and the budget being signed. However, there has still been some things happening and surely there will be more news coming soon surrounding the mid-term elections, so stay tuned! In the meantime, here is some recent news that has come in from COE and other sources. 

It was recently announced that the federal deficit for FY18 has reached $782 billion (a 17% increase from FY17). The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has determined that $164 billion of this deficit is due to the new tax cuts as well as $68 billion due to higher spending caps on defense and non-defense discretionary spending. This has caused President Trump to devise a plan asking every Cabinet Secretary to cut its budget by 5% in FY20. This would be an even further cut to the Department of Education, on top of his already proposed $7.7 billion cut for FY19. As these conversations are sure to be quite consuming leading up to the election, it is a great time to reach out to your Member of Congress to reiterate how important TRIO programs are to your campuses and communities. 

Additionally, recently a Democratic group of senators led by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) have proposed a bill entitled the Affordable Loans for Any Student Act of 2018. This bill would work to solve issues regarding student loan affordability, ease of understanding student loans, as well as fixing issues involving student loan consumer information. This bill would simplify the repayment process in addition to removing some fees surrounding such loans. To read more about the bill, follow the link below:

Thank you all so much for tuning in. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns and I will be happy to answer as best as I can. I hope you all have wonderful remainders of your week. 

Best, 

Eric 
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