Flexibility, Budget And Otherwise

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes that the House Budget Committee broke last summer’s budget deal by eliminating the automatic sequestration and cutting non-defense discretionary spending while sparing defense spending.  The inclusion of the defense cuts in the original package always seemed like the thing that would trigger its unraveling, especially because this package seems unlikely to become law absent a more balanced – read fewer cuts all around – approach.

Also, when OMB asked for ideas and comments about how to reduce the regulatory burden for federal grant recipients they received more than 350 comments.  But an informed source says fewer than 10 were from K-12 groups.  Another datapoint about just how big of an issue flexibility really is, as this report on NCLB flexibility asks.