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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. 

UW Partners with White House OSTP to Host Climate Change Solutions Forum

Representatives from approximately 80 colleges and universities met in Washington D.C. on March 8th and 9th for an exciting two-day forum co-hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the University of Washington to discuss how to leverage the capabilities of colleges and universities to catalyze climate solutions in communities across the country. The attendees represented a cross-section of American higher education from almost all 50 states, including those from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions, and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions. UW was represented by Maya Tolstoy, Dean of the College of the Environment and Meade Krosby, University of Director of the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (pictured below).  

The first day of the forum was held at the White House campus where higher education professionals were joined by government officials for three panels to discuss the various ways that higher education and the federal government can partner together to showcase how campuses can act as proving grounds for new climate solutions and pathways to net-zero emissions; provide essential climate extension services to states, municipalities, and indigenous communities; and ensure that students have the knowledge and skills to lead in the clean industries of the future.  The meeting also included remarks from prominent speakers including the White House Deputy National Climate Advisor Mary Frances Repko; OSTP Deputy Director for Energy Sally Benson; National Science Foundation Assistant Director for Geosciences Alexandra Isern; OSTP Chief of Staff for Climate and Environment and Assistant Director for Climate Resilience Laura Petes; and UW’s very own Maya Tolstoy, who delivered final remarks for the day.  

The attendees then headed to the University of the District of Columbia for Day 2 which included a full day of panels and breakout sessions where attendees discussed strategies and experiences around four themes: campus sustainability and resilience, providing climate services to communities, living laboratories for climate solutions, and climate action in the classroom. The forum ended with a call for action to continue this momentum and maintain a strong channel of communication between higher education and the federal government to advance climate change solutions.   

To learn more, click here for the White House Read Out of the event and here to watch the full live stream of Day 1. 

Biden Signs Reconciliation Bill

Last Tuesday, President Biden signed into law H.R. 5376, the Inflation Reduction Act.  Though smaller than the original plans for a reconciliation package, both the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats are touting the measure as a major accomplishment.

Senate Clears Reconciliation Package; House to Take It Up Friday

After a marathon series of votes on amendments over the weekend, the Senate cleared by a vote of 51-50 a version of the reconciliation budget package.  With all 50 Democrats supporting the measure and all 50 Republicans voting against it, Vice President Harris cast the tie-breaking vote.  Because the measure isa reconciliation bill, which provided it procedural protections, it could move forward in the Senate with a simple majority vote.

The House is currently scheduled to take it up on Friday.

We will provide further details about the bill  in the near future.