NIH and USDA News Today

Posted on April 29, 2011October 17, 2012

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 because Dickey-Wicker is ambiguous and the NIH seems reasonably to have concluded that, although Dickey-Wicker bars funding for the destructive act of deriving an ESC [embryonic stem cell] from an embryo, it does not prohibit funding a research project in which an ESC will be used. We therefore vacate the preliminary injunction.”

As you might recall, last August, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth had ruled in favor of two scientist plaintiffs and issued a preliminary injunction that briefly blocked federally funded embryonic stem cell research on the grounds that NIH’s 2009 hESC guidelines violated Dickey-Wicker. Today’s decision vacating that injunction can be viewed here. There is still the possibility of an appeal.

Also in the news today, Dr. Roger Beachy, the current Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) at USDA, will resign as Director effective May 20, 2011 to spend more time with his family. In the interim, Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young will be named as Acting Director of NIFA.

FY11 Finally Complete

Posted on April 15, 2011October 17, 2012

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 81 Democrats in voting “yea.” A total of 108 Democrats opposed the measure. In the Senate, the final vote was 81-19, with 15 Republicans, three Democrats, and Vermont independent Bernard Sanders voting against the bill. The measure cuts nearly $40 billion in spending compared with FY10 enacted levels.

All members of the Washington State Congressional Delegation voted to support the bill except for Congressman McDermott, who voted “no,” and Congressman Reichert, who was not present due to a death in the family (he reports that he would have voted for the measure).

Final FY11 Action Today

Posted on April 14, 2011October 17, 2012

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 billion from FY10 levels, including a 0.2 percent across-the-board (ATB) cut in domestic discretionary programs. The measure would preserve the maximum Pell Grant award at $5,550 and make relatively modest cuts to basic research programs at most of the major federal agencies.

The House began consideration of the package (HR 1437) today, with the expectation of final votes tomorrow. Despite grumbling about the CR from all sides, the package is expected to pass the House tomorrow, followed later in the day by the Senate. The President has indicated he will sign it. The current short-term CR expires at the end of the day on Friday, April 15.

Highlights of HR 1437:

National Institutes of Health – NIH is provided $30.7 billion in FY11, which is a $260-million (or 0.8 percent) reduction from FY10. The additional 0.2% across-the-board cut will bring the total cut to NIH at 1% below FY10 levels. The cuts come from a $210-million pro rata reduction of all Institutes/Centers and Office of the Director and an additional $50-million decrease from the intramural buildings and facilities account. There are no policy references to the Cures Acceleration Network nor to the statutory mandates governing grant numbers or grant size that were included in HR 1 (House Republicans first attempt on an FY11 CR).

National Science Foundation – The CR cuts NSF overall by $52 million, or 0.8 percent, from FY2010 levels. Again, the total cut is at 1% below FY10 levels when the 0.2% across-the-board cut is applied. As compared to FY10, the Research and Related Activities Account is cut by $42 million for a total of $5.6 billion, and the Education and Human Resources account is cut by $10 million to $862 million.

Department of Energy – The DOE Office of Science receives $4.884 billion, which is $20 million below FY10. With the reduction of the $76 million in earmarks in FY10, this actually increases the Office of Science by $56 million. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), will receive $180 million (no funds were appropriated in FY10 for ARPA-E). Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) programs receive $1.835 billion, which is $408 million below FY10, and includes a rescission of $292 million in earmarks. The actual reduction to this program is only $116 million compared with FY10 due to the earmark rescission.

Department of Defense – DOD 6.1 basic research would be funded largely at the Pentagon’s FY11 request level. For FY11, overall 6.1 basic research would be funded at approximately $1.95 billion, which is about a $130 million or seven-percent increase over FY10. The following is a breakout of 6.1 accounts by service:

Army 6.1 basic research accounts would be funded at $403.3 million, $3.6 million below the FY11 request and $16.9 million below FY10.
Navy 6.1 basic research accounts would be funded at $556.4 million, the same as the FY11 request and $12.5 million above FY10.
Air Force 6.1 basic research accounts would be funded at $500.5 million, the same as the FY11 request, but $18.4 million below FY10.
Defense Wide 6.1 basic research accounts would be funded at $486.9 million, $48.1 million below the FY11 request, but $109.8 million above FY10.

For Defense-Wide 6.1 basic research, two accounts were not funded at the levels requested by the Pentagon. Defense Research Services would receive $295.7 million, which is $32.5 million less that the request, but about $100 million above the FY10 funding level of $194 million. The National Defense Education Program would receive $94.3 million, which is $15.6 million below the request, but $19 million above FY10.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency – The CR provides NOAA with $4.6 billion, which is $947 million below the FY11 requested level. This level requires administrative and overhead reductions and does not provide NOAA the funding increase requested for the Joint Polar Satellite System. The CR cuts NOAA Operations, Research, and Facilities by $119 million compared to FY2010 levels. It also prohibits funding for the establishment of a Climate Service at NOAA.

United States Geological Survey – The USGS overall is cut by $26 million compared to FY2010 levels.

Student Financial Aid and Higher Education – The maximum Pell Grant award is maintained at $5,550 for the current year and $23.0 billion is appropriated for the program. Additional mandatory funds for the Pell Grant program are included for this current and future years but the “Year-Round” Pell Program would be eliminated effective July 1, 2011.

The CR would eliminate the Leveraging Educational Assistance Program (LEAP) and would fund the Javits Graduate Fellowship Program at $8.1 million. Other sources have reported that Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (SEOG), TRIO, and GEAR UP would see reductions of $20 million, $25 million, and $20 million, respectively.

A different source is reporting that Title VI and Fulbright-Hays (International Education and Foreign Language Studies) programs will be cut by $50 million. The same source is reporting that the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) is funded at the current level of $26.9 million.

NASA – Science would receive $4.945 billion in FY11, an increase of $448 million (10 percent) from the FY10 level of $4.497 billion. Aeronautics would receive $535 million, an increase of $38 million (8 percent) above the FY10 level of $497 million. Education programs at NASA would be funded at $145 million, $35 million (19 percent) below the FY10 level of $180.1 million. The CR includes no funding for NASA’s Space Technology program.

National Institutes of Standards and Technology – Overall, NIST would be funded at $752 million, which is $55 million above H.R. 1 but $167 million below the FY 2011 requested level. Specifically, the CR cuts the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) by $25 million compared to FY2010 levels, funding the program at $44 million, while funding the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program at $128.7 million, which is slightly above FY2010 levels. The Construction of Research Facilities money appropriated to NIST is prohibited from being applied to the Competitive Construction program.

USAID – The Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSPs) are level-funded at $31.5 million and the Africa-US higher education partnerships program is level-funded at $15 million. Significantly, the bill changes any “shall” to “should” in the Development Assistance section which, may impact how USAID interprets the bill language for these two programs.

National Endowment for the Humanities – The NEH budget would be cut by $12.5 million from current funding of $167.5 million. This would preliminarily reduce funding for the Endowment to $155 million, the same level appropriated to the agency in FY09. Adding in the 0.2 percent ATB cut results in a final funding level of $154.7 million.

Department of Homeland Security – The CR cuts DHS’s Science and Technology programs by $175 million compared to FY2010 levels; however, it includes a provision which specifically states, “funding for university programs shall not be reduced by more than twenty percent from the fiscal year 2010 level.”

Environmental Protection Agency – The EPA is reduced by $1.6 billion, a 16-percent decrease from FY10 levels. EPA climate change funding bill-wide is cut by $49 million, or 13 percent.

Department of Housing and Urban Development – The CR provides $100 million for the HUD Sustainable Communities initiative, which is $50 million below the FY 2010 enacted level. While the formula fund for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) programs remains the same, the CR eliminates funding for the Economic Development Initiative (EDI) and the Neighborhood Initiative (NI) grants as well as support for the University Communities Fund.

Economic Development Administration – The CR provides $284 million for the Economic Development Administration (EDA). EDA’s grant program is funded at $246 million, which is $11million more than FY2010 and the same as the FY2011 request.

Department of Agriculture – The bill funds the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) at $264.5 million, an increase of $2 million over FY 2010.

Final FY11 Details Emerge

Posted on April 12, 2011October 17, 2012

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 not accurate. The Office of Federal Relations is working diligently to determine the actual cuts and impacts to UW. In the meantime, please let me know if you are hearing about cuts to programs important to UW so that we can track down factual information.

The details of the FY11 spending bill were released early this morning, and in most cases, the targeted accounts are cut below FY10 levels. The final measure provides $1.049 trillion in spending for FY11, a reduction of $39.9 billion from enacted FY10 levels. About $12 billion of the cuts have already been enacted through the three most recent GOP-initiated CR extensions. In addition to these cuts, each agency is directed to identify another 0.2% across the board cut to non-defense accounts. Those reductions will be left to the agencies to determine. The House is expected to vote on this bill on Thursday and the Senate will follow late Thursday night – before the current CR expires.

Here is a quick rundown of some of the programs we are tracking:

NSF is cut $53 million from FY10 (Research -$43 million, Education -$10 million)
NASA is cut $175 million from FY10 (Education -$38 million, Cross Agency Support $83 million, Construction/Environ Compliance -$54 million)
DOE Office of Science is cut $35 million
DOE EERE is cut $438 million
NEH is cut $13 million
NIH is cut only 0.8 percent reduction below the FY10 level, with the largest targeted cut ($50 million) coming from Building and Facilities
SEOG is cut $20 million
TRIO is cut $25 million
GEAR UP is cut $20 million
FIPSE is cut $140 million
Int’l Ed and Foreign Language is cut $50 million

The bill also includes a full, detailed Defense spending bill funded at $5 billion more than FY10. Spending cuts among the other agencies vary, with Homeland Security on the low end seeing a 2 percent cut in funding, and with Transportation-HUD being cut by 18 percent and Agriculture by 13 percent. The bill preserves funding for AmeriCorps, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and job training state grants for Adults, Youth and Dislocated Workers — all of which would have been zeroed by Republicans. It restores funding for the FDA so the agency can begin implementing the recently enacted Food Safety Modernization Act, and provides funding increases (although not as much as requested) for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission to begin carrying out their new duties under the financial system modernization law. Republicans had proposed cutting funding for each of those agencies. The bill includes $18.5 billion for NASA and fully funds the newly authorized exploration program, but prohibits NOAA from establishing a Climate Service.

Read more about the programs targeted for cuts.

FY11 End Game

Posted on April 11, 2011October 17, 2012

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 a government shutdown. Consistent with recent practices regarding short-term CR extensions, it also cut $2 billion from current-year spending, mostly from transportation and housing programs.

The FY11 spending agreement should be released Monday, with House floor action Wednesday and Senate action to follow. Under the budget deal, FY11 spending would be cut by about $38 billion and none of the most controversial policy riders would be included. The cuts would come from both the discretionary and mandatory side, with almost $18 billion in reductions in mandatory spending and $20 billion in discretionary spending cuts — $12 billion of which has already been enacted through discretionary cuts in the last three short-term CRs. More than $1 billion of the discretionary cuts will come from an across-the-board reduction affecting all programs except Defense.

The battle over fiscal 2011 spending has been viewed as a small-scale preview of larger fights to come, including those on the fiscal 2012 budget and spending, and one even sooner on the national deficit. Republicans have repeatedly said they intend to use the need to raise the nation’s debt limit as a “leverage point” to demand more spending cuts or substantial controls on future spending. The efforts on current-year spending may have provided a useful getting-to-know-you exercise for the three primary negotiators in those upcoming battles: President Obama, Speaker Boehner, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

FY12 Battle Begins

After an agreement was reached late Friday on funding for the current year, policymakers are now looking ahead at the larger and more explosive budget issues that must be addressed, including FY12 spending and raising the debt limit.

Beginning on Thursday, the House plans a two-day debate of their FY12 budget blueprint and the contentious issue of long-term debt reduction. The budget would cut spending, compared with Obama’s FY12 proposed budget, by $6.2 trillion over 10 years, and shrink cumulative deficits by $4.4 trillion. It also would cut the current top tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent for families and companies, and transform traditional Medicare and Medicaid benefits respectively into premium support payments and state block grants.

In the Senate, senior Democrats say the budget debate in that chamber will be delayed at least until after they return May 2 from their two-week recess.