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Sen. Appropriations Committee Finishes Its Work, Clears Last 4 Bills

By clearing the last four bills yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee has reported out all 12 spending bills for a fiscal year for the first time in five years.  The committee reported out favorably yesterday the following FY2024 spending measures:  Labor-HHS-Education; Defense; Interior and the Environment; and Homeland Security.  Unlike the situation in the House, where the leadership had to pull the Agriculture spending bill from a floor vote because it lacked enough support even among the Republicans, the committee process in the Senate yesterday was very bipartisan.  The Interior bill passed by a vote of 28 – 0, the Defense bill was approved 27 – 1, the Labor-HHS bill was adopted 26 – 2, and the vote was 24 – 4 on the Homeland Security legislation.  

Labor-HHS-Education

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

  • NIH

The Senate legislation would fund the National Institutes of Health at a total of $47.8 billion, an increase of $943 million above the current level.  The total includes $1.5 billion for ARPA-H, which represents level funding under the Senate version of the bill.  Within the NIH, the bill would increase, among other programs, mental health and Alzheimer’s research by $100 million each and while cancer research would see an increase of $60 million.

  • Title VII Health Professions and Title VIII Nursing Programs

The legislation proposes to fund the Title VII Health Professions programs at a total of $529 million, an increase of $20 million.

At the same time, the Title VIII Nursing programs would see a total of $302.5 million, a $2-million increase over this year.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

  • Student Aid and Higher Education
    • Pell Grant– The maximum award would increase by $250 to $7,645
    • SEOG– $900 million (a decrease of $10 million)
    • Federal Work Study– $1.22 billion (a decrease of $10 million)
    • International Education– $85.7 million (level funded)
    • TRIO– $1.19 billion (level funded)
    • GEAR UP– $338 million (level funded)
    • GAANN– $23.5 million (level funded)
  • Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
    • IES would be funded at $793 million, a cut of $14.5 million

Interior

USGS

  • Climate Adaptation Science Centers– $63.1 million (level funded)
  • ShakeAlert– $29.6 million (level funded)

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES

  • $207 million (level funded)

Defense

Under the committee-approved bill, defense basic research would be see an increase of 10.5 percent for a total of $3.22 billion.

  • Army basic research:  $672.5 million (an increase of 5.8%)
  • Navy basic research:  $793.5 million (an increase of 15.2%)
  • Air Force basic research:  $711.9 million (an increase of 16.3%)
  • Defense-wide basic research:  $862.3 million (a decrease of 7.0%)
  • DARPA:  $4.1 billion (0.7% increase)

Both chambers are now in recess until after Labor Day. 

FY2023 Spending Bills Set to Start Moving This Week

The FY2023 appropriations season is set to kick off this week in the House with a number of Appropriations subcommittees scheduled to take up their respective bills.

Of the bills set to be marked up this week, the defense bill is of the most interest. While the text of the bill has been published, the accompanying report, which contains the details about the measure, is not yet available. We will provide details about this, and other, appropriations measures as they become available.

2022 Federal Agenda Now Live

The University of Washington has published our 2022 Federal Agenda reaffirming our commitment to a robust partnership with the federal government. You can view the agenda here.

On March 24th at 12pm PT, Director of Federal Relations Sarah Castro will participate in a Town Hall highlighting the key elements of our federal agenda. Members of the UW community can register here.

Register Now: Federal Relations Spring Town Hall

The Office of Federal Relations will host a virtual town hall for the campus community on Thursday, March 24th from 12pm-1pm PT. Our staff will provide an update on the federal budget, infrastructure and competitiveness bills, and preview the UW’s 2022 federal agenda. This will be followed by an opportunity for Q&A. Register here (NetID restricted).

House Releases America COMPETES Act of 2022

Today, House leadership revealed the America COMPETES Act of 2022 (H.R. 4521). Much like the bipartisan United States Innovation and Competition Act (S. 1260), which passed in the Senate last summer, the bill authorizes strategic investments in advanced scientific research at NSF and the Department of Energy, semiconductor chip manufacturing, supply chain and natural resource issues, and key diplomatic efforts.

Of particular relevance:

  • $52B for the CHIPS for America Act.
  • Comprehensive reauthorization of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
  • Reauthorizes the entire National Science Foundation and establishes a new Directorate for Science and Engineering Solutions (SES).
  • Establishes a National Engineering Biology Research and Development Initiative.
  • Enhances outreach and access to STEM education at all levels.
  • Reauthorizes Title VI International Education programs.

A factsheet is available here and a section-by-section summary is available here.