April 29, 2011
Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction entered by the district court and ruled in favor of the National Institutes of Health and the Administration’s policy on human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). The ruling states the following: “We conclude the plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail… Read More
April 15, 2011
The Senate easily cleared the FY11 spending agreement (HR 1473) late yesterday afternoon after the House passed it by a comfortable margin. The president is expected to sign the bill sometime today before the current continuing resolution (CR) expires tonight at midnight. The bill passed in the House 260-167, with 179 Republicans being joined by… Read More
April 14, 2011
NOTE: NASA numbers have been corrected to reflect an increase in funding over FY10, not a decrease as reported on the original post. I apologize for any inconvenience. The FY11 continuing resolution (CR) negotiated last Friday to fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year would reduce federal spending by about $38.5… Read More
April 12, 2011
UPDATE: There is a lot of confusion on Capitol Hill today as we all try to determine actual cuts proposed in the FY11 continuing resolution (CR). A list distributed by the House earlier today identified numerous programs for cuts but those programs ARE NOT identified in the actual legislation — so the House list is… Read More
April 11, 2011
Federal government is now operating under another one-week continuing resolution (CR) intended to give lawmakers time to debate and approve the larger agreement they reached late Friday night. The so-called “bridge” CR was cleared by Congress shortly after midnight Friday, immediately after a deal was reached on funding for the remainder of FY11, thereby preventing… Read More
April 9, 2011
President Obama and Congressional leaders announced a budget deal late Friday to avert a government shutdown. The outline of the deal is as follows: up to $39 billion in cuts from the 2010 budget, $514 billion in spending for the defense budget covering the remainder of this fiscal year, a GOP agreement to abandon controversial… Read More
April 8, 2011
A Thursday-night meeting between congressional leaders and President Obama failed to resolve an impasse over federal spending that, barring an agreement on Friday, would result in a federal government shutdown. Federal government is currently operating on a continuing resolution (CR) that is set to expire at midnight tonight (Friday, April 8th). If House Republicans and… Read More
April 7, 2011
With current stopgap funding expiring tomorrow (Friday) night at midnight, negotiators are in a race against time to reach a deal on FY11 funding. President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Reid, and House Speaker Boehner emerged from a late-night meeting at the White House Wednesday claiming serious progress, but nobody was ready to announce a deal… Read More
April 5, 2011
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing last week to assess hydrokinetic energy as an untapped resource with enormous potential opportunity. Bill S630 regarding Marine and Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2011 was the primary focus of the hearing and if passed would secure funding for research and development of this… Read More
April 5, 2011
Shutdown Countdown… Late last night, House Republicans announced that they’re prepared to pass a new one-week continuing resolution (CR) extension with an additional $12 billion in cuts to FY11 unless Democrats “get serious about making real spending cuts on a long-term bill” for the remainder of the year. The two parties have been negotiating over… Read More
