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President Obama Releases FY10 Budget Blueprint

Today, President Obama released a budget outline for fiscal year 2010. The full request will likely be presented to Congress in late April. The President’s Budget Request (PBR) will feature signficant increases in student aid including a boost to the Pell grant (increasing the student maximum to $5,500 for the 2010-11 academic year) and indexing the program to the CPI plus 1% in order to provide for ongoing increases. The proposal phases out the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, through which the government subsidizes and guarantees loans made by private lending institutions. As an alternative, the government will provide all loans through the direct lending program. Elimination of the FFEL program is likely to face some pushback in Congress, as some lawmakers do not like the idea of the government increasing its role in the student loan business. The budget outline calls for a $500 million/year fund to provide grants to states to improve college graduation rates for low-income students. The budget would also make the $2,500 American Opportunity Tax Credit (provided in the Recovery Act of 2009) permanent. Continue reading “President Obama Releases FY10 Budget Blueprint”

House Clears FY09 Omnibus

Today on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives approved a $410 billion omnibus spending bill for the remainder of fiscal year ‘09.  It was not without some controversy, with Republican leaders urging President Obama to veto the bill. House Members voted 245-178 for the package, which includes significant increases in spending on a range of domestic programs, including education, health care, and energy.  Additionally, the bill contains funding for a handful of UW-specific projects, including:

$469,000 for the Center for International Trade in Forest Products or CINTRAFOR (College of Forestry)

The USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) account within the Department of Agriculture supports CINTRAFOR at UW and the International Marketing Program for Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPPACT) program at Washington State University.  The funds will be split between the two universities.

$475,750 for Biofuels Research and Development Infrastructure (College of Forestry)

This funding will likely support the purchase of a major piece of equipment necessary to convert biomass into fuel.

$333,000 for the UW Bothell Nursing Faculty Consortium

This funding was requested to continue the UW’s efforts to increase the number of master’s prepared nursing faculty available to teach in Washington’s community and technical colleges.

The bill, which now goes to the Senate, also prevents a cost-of-living increase for Members of Congress.  The Senate will begin debate on the bill this week but it is not likely that they will vote until sometime next week.  President Obama is expected to sign the bill.

President Obama Outlines his FY10 Budget Priorities

Last night, President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress to give a preview of his first budget request. While it was short on actual numbers, the President did pledge to seek cuts in certain defense, farm, and education programs and root out waste in government spending. He further said that his administration has already identified nearly $2 trillion dollars in savings over the next decade through cuts to programs that they consider wasteful and ineffective. Obama is expected to release an outline of his first budget request on Thursday.  We expect that this will provide broad budget numbers at the agency level but not a lot of detail for individual programs. It will, however, provide us with a glimpse of how the administration will begin to increase — or decrease — funding for certain programs. The Office of Federal Relations will look for those items that might affect the UW, including those affecting education and research programs.

FY09 Omnibus Figures Available for Key Higher Education Accounts

The $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill may pass the House of Representatives as early as this Wednesday and in the following few days in the Senate. The higher education community was successful in its advocacy for increases in some agencies and programs of critical importance. Additionally, UW was successful in securing support for congressionally directed appropriations for high priority campus projects in the FY09 cycle. The government is faced with a March 6th deadline to complete work on the omnibus, as the continuing resolution — that is currently funding the government at FY2008 levels — expires at that point. Continue reading “FY09 Omnibus Figures Available for Key Higher Education Accounts”

President Obama Selects New HRSA Administrator

Mary Wakefield, Director of the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota, has been selected by President Obama to head the Health Resources and Services Administration. HRSA is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable. The agency will administer $2.5 billion allocated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for health care infrastructure and to train health care professionals.