Yesterday the House passed the first appropriations vote of the season. The FY16 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (HR 2029) passed with a vote of 255 – 163, largely along party lines. Known colloquially as MilCon-VA, the measure is historically the least controversial of all the 12 annual appropriations bills. It passed last year with the support of every House Democrat and Republican with the exception of Rep. Raúl M. Labrador (R-ID), a conservative with an idiosyncratic voting record.
On Wednesday morning, threats to withhold votes on the bill took on new significance as Democrats were emboldened by President Barack Obama’s veto threat, disapproval from the VA secretary and grumbles from influential veterans services organization. All the stakeholders said the funding levels were too low.
And by Wednesday evening, Republicans saw a second red flag, prompting them to suddenly cancel scheduled votes that night on remaining MilCon-VA amendments and final passage.
House Democratic leaders succeeded in holding all but 19 of their Members in voting against the measure without even formally whipping against the Republican bill.
This morning, the House approved its FY16 Energy & Water spending bill (H.R. 2028) on a largely party-line vote of 240-177. The bill includes $5.1 billion for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, which is a small increase of $29 million, or 0.6 percent, above the FY15 enacted level.
Within of the Office of Science are the following funding amounts:
- Advanced Scientific Computing Research: $537.5 million, an increase of $3.4 million, or 0.6 percent, above FY15;
- Basic Energy Sciences: $1.7 billion, an increase of $37 million, or 2.1 percent, above FY15;
- Biological and Environmental Research: $538 million, a significant cut of $54 million, or 9.1 percent, below FY15;
- Fusion Energy Sciences: $467 million, a slight increase of $100,000 over FY15. The measure would freeze funding for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) at the FY15 level of $150 million, and raise funding for the domestic fusion science program by $100,000 to $317 million.
- High Energy Physics: $776 million, an increase of $10 million, or 1.3 percent, above FY15;
- Nuclear Physics: $616 million, which is $20.6 million, or 3.5 percent, above FY15; and
- ARPA-E: funding is frozen at the FY15 level of $280 million.