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CJS, Labor-HHS Bills Clear Committee, Energy-Water Is Next

During a day-long mark-up session, the House Appropriations Committee cleared yesterday both the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) and the Labor-HHS-Education (L-HHS) bills.

CJS

  • NSF

The press release about the CJS measure passing the committee is available here.  The detailed report that accompanies the bill is available here.

The committee-approved legislation would fund the National Science Foundation (NSF) at $9.63 billion, $1.15 billion, or 13.5%, above the current level.  Within NSF, the Research and Related Activities account would be increased by $786.0 million, or 11.4%, to $7.70 billion, while the Education and Human Resources line would see an increase of $306.3 million, or 31.5%, to $1.27 billion.  The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account would be funded at $249.0 million, an $8 million-increase.

The accompanying report language reads, in part, “In addition, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117–2) included $600,000,000 for the National Science Foundation to fund or extend new and existing research grants, cooperative agreements, scholarships, fellowships, and apprenticeships, and related administrative expenses to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.”

  • NASA

As noted on Friday, NASA is slated for $25.04 billion under the bill, an increase of $1.77 billion.

The Science Mission Directorate would see an increase of $668.5 million for a total of $7.97 billion.

As part of the Office of STEM Engagement,  the bill proposes to fund the Space Grant program at $60 million, which is currently funded at $51 million.

  • NOAA

The bill calls for an increase of $1.03 billion for NOAA, for a total of $6.46 billion in FY2022. It also calls for the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), NOAA’s research arm, to be funded at $684.5 million.  This represents an increase of approximately $114 million over the current year’s funding level, as OAR received $570.6 million for FY2021.

Also as noted previously, although there does not appear to be any explicit funding allocated for the creation of “ARPA-C”, the Climate Research program within OAR would see a $71-million increase, for a total of $253 million.

Sea Grant would see a $10-million increase to $85 million, with the increase dedicated to a coastal resiliency initiative.

The Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) would be funded at $50 million, an increase of $9 million.

Labor-HHS-Education

The committee took up the Labor-HHS bill first yesterday before moving on the CJS bill.  The press release for yesterday’s action is available here.  The detailed report accompanying the bill is also on the committee website, here.

Here are a few more details about the bill–

NIH

The bill calls for $49.4 billion for NIH, an increase of $6.5 billion above the current level.  Of the proposed $6.5-billion increase, $3.5 billion would be for the base NIH budget and $3 billion would be for the creation of ARPA-Health (ARPA-H), a new proposal from the Biden Administration.  The report states that ARPA-H should be a distinct entity within the NIH structure.

In addition to providing funds to the newly proposed ARPA-H, the bill would also add resources to other efforts at the NIH, such as:

  • $7 billion, an increase of $432 million above the FY 2021 enacted level, for the National Cancer Institute, including $194 million for the Cancer Moonshot;
  • $541 million, an increase of $41 million above the FY 2021 enacted level, for the All of Us Precision Medicine Initiative; and,
  • $612 million, an increase of $52 million above the FY 2021 enacted level, for the BRAIN Initiative.

Higher Education

International education programs (Title VI)

Under the House bill, the collection of international education programs would see an increase of 19.2% and would be funded at $93.2 million.  Currently, these programs are funded at $78.2 million.  More specifically, Domestic Programs would see an increase of $10 million, or 14.4%, to $79.35 million.  The Fulbright-Hays International Programs would be funded at $13.81 million, an increase of $5 million, or 56.8%.

Finally, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has indicated that the Labor-HHS measure, along with five others– Agriculture, Energy and Water, Interior, Military Construction-VA, and Transportation– will be packaged into a larger bill for floor action during the week of July 26.

 

NIH Listening Sessions on ARPA-H

The NIH will host various listening sessions related to the creation of ARPA-H. The ARPA-H proposal would create a special advanced research arm of the NIH. The goal of the listening sessions is to collect stakeholder feedback from the scientific, patient advocacy, and medical community. Sessions are organized by topic, and registration is available here.

House Bill Includes Increases for NIH, Student Aid and Higher Education

The House Labor-HHS report includes increases for a number of agencies, programs, and accounts of great interest to both UW and the broader higher education community.  These include, for example, the following–

NIH

The bill calls for $49.4 billion for NIH, an increase of $6.5 billion above the current level.  Of the proposed $6.5-billion increase, $3.5 billion would be for the base NIH budget and $3 billion would be for the creation of ARPA-Health (ARPA-H), a new proposal from the Biden Administration.  The report states that ARPA-H should be a distinct entity within the NIH structure.

Student Aid/ Higher Education

  • Pell Grant

The House bill would increase the Pell Grant maximum to $6,895 from the current maximum of $6,495.

  • International education programs (Title VI)

Under the House bill, the collection of international education programs would see an increase of 19.2% and would be funded at $93.2 million.  Currently, these programs are funded at $78.2 million.

  • FWS/SEOG/ TRIO/ GEAR UP/ GAANN

Federal Work Study would be increased by 20.5% to $1.43 billion while TRIO would see an increase of 18.2% to $1.3 billion.  In addition, GEAR UP would be increased by 10.9% to $408 million.  On the graduate education side, the bill proposes to support GAANN at $25.5 million, an increase of 8.5% (this program has not seen an increase in several years).

  • IES

The committee proposes to fund the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at $762.5 million, nearly a 19% increase.

Policy provisions

In addition to funding various programs and agencies, the bill would also allow DACA-eligible students to become Pell-eligible.

We will provide updates on this bill as the legislative process continues to move forward.

 

Appropriations Process Kicks Into Gear

With six more bills scheduled for at least subcommittee action this week, the annual appropriations process for FY2022 has kicked into gear. This week’s activities follow those that took place the last week of June.  This means that all 12 spending bills will have moved through at least the subcommittee process by the end of this week.

The following pieces of legislation are scheduled for subcommittee action this week:

On Tuesday, the full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take up the Defense and Homeland Security bills.  The committee is currently scheduled to mark up the E&W and THUD bills on Friday.

The following bills have already cleared the full committee:

The Legislative Branch and Financial Services bills are still awaiting full committee action.

We will provide details as they become available.

Bipartisan ARPA-H Legislation Introduced

US Representatives DeGette (D-CO) and Upton (R-MI) released yesterday bipartisan legislation which would create the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health outlined in President Biden’s FY22 budget request. Titled the Cures 2.0 Act, the legislation would provide more than $6.5 billion for US research efforts on health issues such as cancer and Alzheimer’s, as well as improve Medicare coverage, patient access to health information, caregiver training, and diversity in clinical trials.

Draft text is available here.