The FY09 omnibus appropriations bill was signed into law today, following a 62-35 Senate vote last night and a statement by President Obama that the earmark process needs to be reformed during the FY10 appropriations process. According to the President, many congressionally directed appropriations (also known as earmarks) serve legitimate public needs, but a few suspect projects have brought about a negative view of the practice. Most of the President’s suggestions on earmark reform center around transparency, like requiring Members of Congress to publically post their earmark requests on a website. Additionally, the President stated that earmarks directed to private for-profit organizations should be subject to the same competitive bidding process as other federal contracts. It is expected, as stated recently by the President’s budget chief Peter Orszag, that future appropriations bills will have fewer requests for earmarks.
The FY09 omnibus appropriations bill included some increases of note for the academic community, including:
- A maximum appropriated Pell Grant award of $4,860, an increase of $119 over FY08
- Funding for the GAANN and Javits Fellowships programs will be $41 million, an increase of $2 million, or 4% over the FY08 level
- Funding for International Education Programs rises to $119 million, an increase of $10 million or more than 9% above the FY08 funding level
- NIH, $30.3 billion –an increase of $938 million over FY08
Chart -In millions of dollars
|
Component |
FY08 ($) |
FY09 Omnibus ($) |
Difference ($) |
% Change |
|
NIH |
29,379.0 |
30,317.0 |
938.0 |
3.19 |
|
OD |
1,109.0 |
1,247.0 |
138.0 |
12.44 |
|
NIA |
1,045.0 |
1,081.0 |
36.0 |
3.44 |
|
NIAAA |
435.6 |
450.2 |
14.6 |
3.35 |
|
NIAID |
4,264.0 |
4,403.0 |
139.0 |
3.26 |
|
NIAMS |
507.7 |
524.8 |
17.1 |
3.37 |
|
NCI |
4,802.0 |
4,969.0 |
167.0 |
3.48 |
|
NICHD |
1,252.0 |
1,295.0 |
43.0 |
3.43 |
|
NIDCD |
393.4 |
407.3 |
13.9 |
3.53 |
|
NIDCR |
389.5 |
402.7 |
13.2 |
3.39 |
|
NIDDK |
1,704.0 |
1,761.0 |
57.0 |
3.35 |
|
NIDA |
1,002.0 |
1,033.0 |
31.0 |
3.09 |
|
NIEHS |
648.2 |
662.8 |
14.6 |
2.25 |
|
NEI |
666.0 |
688.0 |
22.0 |
3.30 |
|
NIGMS |
1,933.0 |
1,998.0 |
65.0 |
3.36 |
|
NHLBI |
2,921.0 |
3,016.0 |
95.0 |
3.25 |
|
NHGRI |
502.8 |
502.4 |
-0.4 |
-0.08 |
|
Fogarty |
66.5 |
68.7 |
2.2 |
3.34 |
|
NLM |
321.2 |
330.8 |
9.6 |
2.99 |
|
NIMH |
1,407.0 |
1,450.0 |
43.0 |
3.06 |
|
NINDS |
1,541.0 |
1,593.0 |
52.0 |
3.37 |
|
NINR |
137.3 |
141.9 |
4.6 |
3.35 |
|
NCRR |
1,148.0 |
1,226.0 |
78.0 |
6.79 |
|
NCMHHD |
199.2 |
206.0 |
6.8 |
3.41 |
|
NCCAM |
121.3 |
125.5 |
4.2 |
3.46 |
|
NIBIB |
298.1 |
308.2 |
10.1 |
3.39 |
|
ARHQ |
334.5 |
372.1 |
37.6 |
11.24 |
- NASA, $17.7 billion –an increase of $380 million or 2.2% over FY08
- Science, $4.5 billion –a decrease $203.2 million or 4.3% from FY08
- NSF, $6.49 billion –an increase of $362 million or 5.9% over FY08
- Research and Related Activities, $5.18 billion –an increase of $339 million or 7% over FY08
- Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction, $152 million –a decrease of $68.7 million or 31.1% from FY08
- Education and Human Resources, $845.3 million –an increase of $119.7 million or 16.5% over FY08
- DoE Office of Science, $4.72 billion –an increase of $754 million or 18.8% over FY08
- NOAA, $4.3 billion –an increase of $376 million over FY08
- NIST, $819 million –an increase of $63 million over FY08