Federal Relations » Federal Budget

This Week in Congress

Brianna C. Fields — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:39:17 +0000

An overview of House and Senate Committee Hearings and Markups on the schedule this week.

TUESDAY, MAY 21st

House Appropriations
FISCAL 2014 APPROPRIATIONS: 302(B) ALLOCATIONS
May 21, 11 a.m., 2359 Rayburn Bldg
Full Committee Markup

House Education & the Workforce
FISCAL 2014 BUDGET: DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
May 21, 10 a.m., 2175 Rayburn Bldg
Full Committee Hearing

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22nd

Senate Appropriations
2014 APPROPRIATIONS: DEFENSE
May 22, 10 a.m., 192 Dirksen Bldg
Subcommittee Hearing

Senate Appropriations
2014 APPROPRIATIONS: INTERIOR AND ENVIRONMENT
May 22, 9:30 a.m., 124 Dirksen Bldg
Subcommittee Hearing

Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION NOMINATION
May 22, 2:30 p.m., 253 Russell Bldg
Full Committee Confirmation Hearing

House Judiciary
IMMIGRATION MODERNIZATION ACT
May 22, 2 p.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg
Full Committee Hearing

THURSDAY, MAY 23rd

Senate Appropriations
2014 APPROPRIATIONS: AGRICULTURE, RURAL, FDA
May 23, 10 a.m., 124 Dirksen Bldg
Subcommittee Hearing

Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation
SECRETARY OF COMMERCE NOMINATION
May 23, 11 a.m., 253 Russell Bldg
Full Committee Confirmation Hearing

FY14 Appropriations Update

Christy Gullion — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:37:52 +0000

Appropriations: This week, House appropriators are expected to approve a plan for writing FY14 spending bills that would make deep cuts in domestic programs in order to protect defense programs. The overall figure will adhere to the spending caps set by recent budget agreements and assumes the sequester will apply to FY14 without a larger agreement to cut the deficit. At question is how the overall amount will be divided between the 12 annual spending bills. The GOP approach makes it clear that they intend to preserve national security spending at the expense of domestic programs favored by Democrats.

The allocations provide a combined $625 billion in FY14 for the Defense, Military Construction-VA, and Homeland Security bills, which would be a cut of $4 billion, or less than one percent, from the current enacted level. Discretionary spending in the rest of the government — covered by the other nine spending bills, including the Labor-HHS-ED bill — would be cut by about $72 billion, or 17 percent, from current levels.

The Labor-HHS-ED bill would provide $121.8 billion, about $35 billion, or 22 percent, less than the current level. House Appropriations Committee Chairman, Hal Rogers (R-KY) has not ruled out increases in spending allocations if lawmakers can come to a broad budget accord to reduce the deficit and replace the sequester. But for now, House Republicans appear to have adopted a strategy of back-loading the cuts on bills, such as Labor-HHS-Education, to buy them some time for possible negotiations.

Debt Ceiling: The debt ceiling increase debate is one issue that appears to be off table in budget negotiations. With the law suspending the ceiling on federal borrowing authority expiring over the weekend, on Friday Treasury Secretary Lew formally told lawmakers that Congress won’t need to raise the debt limit again until after Labor Day. When the legislation was approved earlier this year, it was assumed the debt limit would need to be increased by late spring or early summer. Lew reiterated the Administration’s pledge that it won’t negotiate with Congress over the debt ceiling, despite ongoing talks among Republican lawmakers aimed at a strategy of using the need to raise the debt limit as leverage in a broader debate over tax and spending policy.

House GOP Proposes Austere FY14 Appropriations Plan

Christy Gullion — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:10:41 +0000

Late yesterday, the House Republicans released new spending targets for FY14 appropriations bills. Under the GOP numbers, the Labor-HHS-ED bill will face a nearly 20 percent reduction on top of the cuts already made in the March 1^st sequestration order. These programs would be capped at $121.8 billion — or about $28 billion below the best available estimates for post-sequestration appropriations. This represents $42 billion, or 26 percent, below what was enacted in FY10. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) appears to be scaling back spending for these programs, as well as for transportation, housing, environmental, and natural resources programs, in order to provide significant increases for a few of the 12 annual bills this summer. For example, Pentagon spending would rise to $512.5 billion, a roughly 6 percent increase over the reduced levels allowed under sequestration. We expect similar increases for Military-VA and Homeland Security.

Meanwhile, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), whose state is home to the NIH, pledged to work with the top senators on the Labor-HHS-ED subcommittee to ensure they get an appropriate allocation to fund these programs. The Democrat said she is “worried about the sequester’s effect on the people who work at NIH as well as extramural programs such as those run by universities.” Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), the top Republican on the full committee, said he would work with Mikulski to try to increase funding for NIH in the face of the sequester. Other Senators also pledged their support for NIH funding, including Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) – top ranking members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. But despite the bipartisan support, there are still concerns that GOP priorities would prevent Congress from giving NIH the necessary funding resources.

The Office of Federal Relations continues to remind the Washington state delegation about the substantial fiscal impact NIH grant funding has on our economy. Please contact us if you have information that will help inform Members of Congress about the importance of NIH funding.

This Week in Congress

Brianna C. Fields — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:19:08 +0000

TUESDAY, MAY 13^th

Senate Appropriations
2014 APPROPRIATIONS: HOMELAND SECURITY
2:30 p.m., 138 Dirksen Bldg.
Subcommittee Hearing

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14^th

Senate Appropriations
2014 APPROPRIATIONS: DEFENSE
10 a.m., SVC-117 Capitol Visitor Center
Subcommittee Hearing

2014 APPROPRIATIONS: ENERGY AND WATER
2:30 p.m., 192 Dirksen Bldg.
Subcommittee Hearing

2014 APPROPRIATIONS: LABOR, HHS, EDUCATION
2:30 p.m., 138 Dirksen Bldg.
Subcommittee Hearing

Senate Veterans’ Affairs
VETERAN BENEFITS LEGISLATION
10 a.m., 418 Russell Bldg.
Full Committee Hearing

THURSDAY, MAY 15^th

Senate Appropriations
2014 APPROPRIATIONS: AGRICULTURE, RURAL, FDA
10 a.m., 124 Dirksen Bldg.
Subcommittee Hearing

2014 APPROPRIATIONS: COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE
10 a.m., 192 Dirksen Bldg.
11:15 a.m., SVC-217 Capitol Visitor Center
Subcommittee Hearing

Appropriations, Sequestration, and Immigration

Christy Gullion — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:00:25 +0000

The Senate is in session today at 2:00pm but there will be no votes today. The House will be back in session at noon Tuesday.

Appropriations: The House GOP plans to begin drafting their FY2014 spending bills to adhere to the roughly $967 billion spending cap set by recent budget law, which also reflects the sequester. The Senate Democrats, on the other hand, appear ready to ignore the sequester and instead mark up their FY2014 bills under a $1.058 trillion cap.

The House Appropriations Committee is expected to start the FY2014 process with two relatively non-controversial bills: Military Construction & Veterans Affairs and Defense. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet scheduled any FY2014 markups, but has a full slate of budget hearings planned with administration officials this week.

Sequestration: The sequester was designed to be so bad that lawmakers would never allow it to happen. But it did happen and now many members of Congress are looking to protect their favorite federal programs from some or all of the effects of sequestration. After easing some pain for the FAA a couple of weeks ago, the shortlist for the next round of possible sequester saves includes cancer patients, medical researchers, hungry seniors, poor people, and pre-schoolers.

There are already more than a dozen pieces of stand-alone legislation introduced to address agencies, programs and accounts hit by sequestration. Whether any one proposal has a shot at becoming law requires a confluence of events. It needs bipartisan support and at least some semblance of a spending offset to cover the costs. And public outcry from the Americans across the country helps as well.

Here’s a small sample of other sequester fixes also waiting in the wings: Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) would exempt the NIH; Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) would ensure that civilian Pentagon employees who get furloughed don’t lose access to classified information; the New York delegation is trying to protect September 11^th health and compensation programs; Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS) wants to prevent furloughs for members of the National Guard who work full time as uniformed civilians maintaining equipment; Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) hopes to save the TIGER transportation grant program; Reps. Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Tom Cole (R-OK) have a bill to exempt the Indian Health Service fund; Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mark Udall (D-CO) are releasing a new version of legislation this week that would give agency heads more flexibility in how they implement the budget cuts.

We expect this sort of legislation to consume much of the public debate in Congress throughout the summer and fall.

Immigration: The Senate Judiciary Committee will resume their work on a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws (S 744) Tuesday and Thursday with members of the chamber’s so-called gang of eight focused on which of hundreds of amendments filed could be potential deal-breakers. The committee chairman has said he hopes to finish the markup before Congress breaks for Memorial Day recess in two weeks.

Congress to Focus on Budget Issues

Christy Gullion — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:23:54 +0000

After a weeklong break, both the House and Senate are back in session this week. They have a three-week work period before the next break at Memorial Day. During this time, the House is expected to make some progress on their FY14 spending bills.

Appropriations

Even though there has been no final resolution over the budget for FY14, House appropriators are set to begin writing their FY14 spending bills this month with the plan of having a few of those bills on the floor by June. In the next week, House Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky) is expected to propose how to divide up $967 billion in discretionary funding for the 12 annual bills, known as the 302(b) allocations. Once the allocations are approved, House appropriators will begin moving their bills through subcommittees and then the full panel.

The Senate appropriations process is typically later than the House process, and will be further complicated this year as Democrats have sought to set the cap for FY14 discretionary spending at a higher level, $1.058 trillion. The difference – $91 billion – is already reflected in the budget resolutions adopted by each chamber and has thus far kept them from reaching a final budget accord for FY14.

Among the first FY14 bills expected to reach the House floor is the Defense measure, which accounts for roughly half of regular discretionary spending. Another likely candidate for early House floor action is the nonpartisan Military Construction-Veterans Affairs spending measure. The Labor-HHS-Education spending bill is usually the last bill written as it has some of the most controversial programs that tend to divide Democrats and Republicans.

Sequestration

After providing more flexibility from sequestration for the FAA last month, Congress will likely grapple with how to give other agencies similar flexibility – especially if there is another public outcry like there was for FAA (ie: long lines at TSA check points in the nation’s airports). The White House and Democrats appear to be sticking with a strategy of seeking a full repeal of the sequester, despite pressure from Republicans, federal agencies, and other interests to back the kind of special law that eased the impact of spending cuts on air traffic controllers. Many members of Congress and the White House continue to talk about a “budget deal” that will address the impacts of sequestration and possibly close tax loopholes for the wealthy. It is unclear how such a deal would come together at this point as Republicans have been adamant about not raising any additional taxes.

Debt Limit

Many had hoped to use the next debt ceiling debate as a way to force a broad budget deal, but those hopes are fading the default deadline has been moved back and lawmakers appear less worried about the consequences. The urgency to address the debt is diminishing with the annual deficit falling from $1.3 trillion two years ago to a projected $845 billion this year. And the Treasury may not exhaust the extraordinary measures it can use to avoid default until November – rather than this summer. So pushing back the deadline also pushes off any need to compromise in the near term, one reason the House and Senate appear set to move forward with very different levels for FY14 discretionary spending. If a big deal is even remotely possible, it is likely to come with an overhaul of the tax code tied to modest cuts in entitlement spending and a debt ceiling increase.

This Week in Congress

Brianna C. Fields — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:56:13 +0000

Congress is continuing to move forward with the appropriations process this week before adjourning on a week long recess next week.

Below are some upcoming congressional hearings scheduled that we will be keeping our eye on and may be of interest to the UW community.

Tuesday, April 23

Senate Budget
2014 Budget: Veterans’ Programs
10:30 am, 608 Dirksen

Wednesday, April 24

Senate Appropriations
FY14 Defense Appropriations
11 am, 192 Dirksen

Senate Appropriations
FY14 Energy and Water Appropriations
2:30 pm 192 Dirksen

Senate Appropriations
FY14 Interior and Environment Appropriations
9:30 am, 124 Dirksen

Senate Appropriations
FY14 Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations
10 am, 138 Dirksen

House Appropriations
FY14 Defense Appropriations
10 am, 2358-C Rayburn

House Appropriations
FY14 Interior and Environment Appropriations
9:30 am and 1 pm, B-308 Rayburn

House Education and the Workforce
Higher Education Affordability
10 am, 2175 Rayburn

Thursday, April 25

Senate Appropriations
FY14 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations
10 am, 192 Dirksen

House Appropriations
FY14 Defense Appropriations
10 am, H-140 Capitol

House Appropriations
FY14 Labor, HHS, Education
10 am, 2358-C Rayburn

House Small Business
STEM Workforce and Immigration Overhaul
10 am, 2360 Rayburn

Consolidated STEM Programs in the President’s Budget

smcastro — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:17:41 +0000

The President’s FY2014 Budget, released on April 10th, proposed moving STEM funding from across the federal government to NSF as well as reorganizing and eliminating certain STEM programs. Dr. John Holdren, the Director of the Office of Science and Tech Policy (OSTP), testified to the House Science and Technology Committee today about the impacts on Science and Tech in the President’s Budget. His testimony can be found here.

In addition, OSTP has information on the nature of the reorganization including a listing of the specific STEM education programs that will be eliminated/consolidated across federal agencies, as well as the new STEM education programs that the budget proposes.

Below are the 78 programs proposed for consolidation in the 2014 Budget, along with the current agency homes.

1) USDA in the Classroom, USDA2) AITC Secondary Postsecondary Agriculture Education Challenge Grants (SPECA), USDA3) Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship Grant Program, USDA4) Higher Education Challenge Grants (HEC), USDA

5) Higher Education Multicultural Scholars Program (MSP), USDA

6) Women and Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Fields Program (WAMS), USDA

7) Competitive Education Grants (including Environmental Literacy Grants), Commerce

8) Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program, Commerce

9) NIST Summer Institute for MIddle School Teachers, Commerce

10) NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET), Commerce

11) NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (Education Only), Commerce

12) NOAA Teacher at Sea Program, Commerce

13) DoD STARBASE Program, DOD

14) Iridescent Learning, DOD

15) National Defense Education Program (NDEP) K-12 component, DOD

16) National Science Center (NSC), DOD

17) Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), DOD

18) University Laboratory Initiative (ULI), DOD

19) Homeland Security STEM Career Development Grant Program DHS

20) American Chemical Society Summer School in Nuclear and Radiochemistry, DOE

21) Computational Science Graduate Fellowship, DOE

22) Global Change Education Program, DOE

23) Graduate Automotive Technology Education, DOE

24) National Undergraduate Fellowship Program in Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy Sciences, DOE

25) Plasma/Fusion Science Educator Programs, DOE

26) QuarkNet, DOE

27) Wind for Schools, DOE

28) Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) Fellowships for Undergraduate Environmental Study), EPA

29) Science to Achieve Results Graduate Fellowship Program) EPA

30) Clinical Research Training Program, HHS

31) Curriculum Supplement Series, HHS

32) NIAID Science Education Awards, HHS

33) NINDS Diversity Research Education Grants in Neuroscience, HHS

34) NLM Institutional Grants for Research Training in Biomedical Informatics, HHS

35) OD Science Education Partnership Award, HHS

36) Office of Science Education K-12 Program, HHS

37) Public Health Traineeship, HHS

38) Science Education Drug Abuse Partnership Award, HHS

39) Short Term Educational Experiences for Research (STEER) in the Environmental health Sciences for Undergraduates and High School Students, HHS

40) Aeronautics Academy, NASA

41) Aeronautics Content – Smart Skies/Product Content Upgrade, NASA

42) Aeronautics Scholarship, NASA

43) Aqua, NASA

44) Astrophysics Forum, NASA

45) Aura, NASA

46) Cassini, NASA

47) Chandra, NASA

48) DAWN, NASA

49) Design Competition, NASA

50) Earth Science E/PO Forum, NASA

51) eEducation Small Projects/Central Operation of Resources for Educators (CORE), NASA

52) EPOESS, NASA

53) GCCE – Global Climate Change Education, NASA

54) GRAIL, NASA

55) GSRP – Graduate Student Researchers Program, NASA

56) Heliophysics E/PO Forum, NASA

57) HEOMD-NASA’s Beginning Engineering, Science and Technology (BEST) Students (NBS), NASA

58) HST, NASA

59) Innovation in Higher Education STEM Education, NASA

60) INSPIRE – Interdisciplinary National Science Program Incorporating Research and Education Experience, NASA

61) JPFP – Jenkins Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Program, NASA

62) Juno, NASA

63) LDCM, NASA

64) LEARN – Learning Environment and Research Network, NASA

65) Mars E/PO Formal Ed, NASA

66) Mars E/PO Informal Ed, NASA

67) MESSENGER, NASA

68) NAS – NASA Aerospace Scholars, NASA

69) NES – NASA Explorer Schools, NASA

70) Planetary Science E/PO Forum, NASA

71) Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunity Project, NASA

72) SEMAA – Science Engineering Mathematics and Aerospace Academy/FIRST Buckeye, NASA

73) SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) Education and Public Outreach, NASA

74) SOI – Summer of Innovation/NASA IV&V Engineering Apprenticeship Program, NASA

75) Spaceward Bound, NASA

76) STEM Education & Accountability Project , NASA

77) USRP – Undergraduate Student Research Project, NASA

78) Nuclear Education Curriculum Development Program, NRC

As you see from OSTP’s STEM ed fact sheet table, nearly all of these functions and resources will be redirected to ED, NSF, and Smithsonian. The above list provides the detail behind the Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings chapter of the 2014 Budget (p. 175-176 of the Budget), which contains:

Eliminated Programs and Redirected Funding - 78 Programs:

Department of Agriculture – 6 Programs; Department of Commerce – 6 Programs; Department of Defense – 6 Programs; Department of Energy – 8 Programs; Department of Health and Human Services – 10 Programs; Department of Homeland Security – 1 Program; Environmental Protection Agency – 2 Programs; National Aeronautics and Space Administration – 38 Programs; Nuclear Regulatory Commission – 1 Program

The combined 2012 funding for the 78 programs was $176 million.

Internal Eliminations/Consolidations

Below are the internal consolidations, in which funds would remain in the agency. This list is longer than the Reorganized Programs Within the Agency – 12 Programs :that appears in the 2014 Budget volume which included only some NSF and NASA programs.

79) Distance Education Grants for Institutions of Higher Education in Insular Areas (DEG), USDA

80) Resident Instruction Grants Program for Institutions of Higher Education in Insular Areas, USDA

81) Improving Teacher Quality State Grants/Effective Teacher and Leader State Grants Set Aside,) ED

82) Teacher Incentive Fund, ED

83) Minority Educational Institution Student Partnership Program, DOE

84) Environmental Education Grants EPA

85) National Environmental Education and Training Partnership EPA

86) Health Careers Opportunity Program, HHS

87) Short Courses on Mathematical, Statistical, and Computational Tools for Studying Biological Systems, HHS

88) AESP – Aerospace Education Services Project, NASA

89) CEP – Career Exploration Project, NASA

90) Curriculum Improvement Partnership Award for the Integration of Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum (CIPAIR), NASA

91) EFP – Education Flight Projects, NASA

92) ESMD Space Grant Project, NASA

93) HEOMD-Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) Project, NASA

94) HEOMD-University Student Launch Initiative, NASA

95) Informal STEM Education , NASA

96) Innovation in Aeronautics Instruction Competition, NASA

97) LARSS – NASA Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars Program, NASA

98) LERCIP – Lewis Educational Research Collaborative Internship Project (College), NASA

99) LTP – Learning Technologies Project, NASA

100) MSP – MUREP Small Projects, NASA

101) MUST – Motivating Undergraduates in Science and Technology, NASA

102) NETS – NASA Education Technologies Services, NASA

103) NSBRI Higher Education Activities – National Space Biomedical Research Institute, NASA

104) NSTI-MI – NASA Science and Technology Institute for Minority Institutions, NASA

105) Research Cluster , NASA

106) SEED – Systems Engineering Educational Discovery, NASA

107) TCUP – NASA Tribal College and University Project, NASA

108) URC – University Research Centers, NASA

109) Integrated University Program) NRC

110) Climate Change Education (CCE), NSF

111) Computing Education for the 21st Century (CE21), NSF

112) Cyberinfrastructure Training, Education, Advancement, and Mentoring for Our 21st Century Workforce (CI-TEAM), NSF

113) Engineering Education (EE), NSF

114) Geoscience Education, NSF

115) Geoscience Teacher Training (GEO-Teach), NSF

116) Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE), NSF

117) Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12), NSF

118) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program, NSF

119) Math and Science Partnership (MSP), NSF

120) Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education in Engineering, NSF

121) Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences, NSF

122) Research in Disabilities Education (RDE), NSF

123) Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE), NSF

124) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP), NSF

125) Transforming Undergraduate Biology Education (TUBE), NSF

126) Transforming Undergrad Education in STEM (TUES), NSF

127) Widening Implementation and Demonstration of Evidence-based Reforms (WIDER), NSF

New programs

Finally, below are the new programs, either brand new in FY 2014 or a new start in the 2013 Budget, and in three cases eliminated in the 2013 Budget but restarted in the 2014 Budget.

128) Insular Programs, USDA

129) Fund for the Improvement of Education (FIE): Math Inititative, ED

130) STEM Innovation Networks, ED

131) Office of Science Graduate Fellowship (SCGF) program, DOE

132) Blueprint for Neuroscience Research Science Education Award, HHS

133) Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP), HHS

134) Student Intramural Research Training Award Program, HHS

135) MUREP, NASA

136) STEM Accountability and Coordination, NASA

137) Catalyzing Advances in Undergraduate STEM Education (CAUSE), NSF

138) STEM-C Partnerships, NSF

139) NSF Research Traineeships (NRT), NSF

140) STEM Informal Education and Instruction, Smithsonian

The new programs total $634 million in the 2014 Budget.

This Week in Congress

Christy Gullion — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:01:18 +0000

The Senate resumes its gun control debate this week, beginning today with the most substantive and contentious issue: a bipartisan proposal to require background checks of gun purchasers in commercial and Internet sales. It’s the start of deliberations that could keep that chamber busy until the Memorial Day recess. We also expect to see an immigration reform legislation unveiled this week in the Senate.

The House will consider four minor bills under suspension today, including measures that would bar federal employees and contractors who owe back taxes from being employed or awarded contracts worth more than $150,000. The House will focus on cybersecurity legislation for the remainder of the week.

In addition to floor action, both chambers plan more than 40 congressional hearings this week to review President Obama’s FY14 budget as lawmakers weigh the potential for a grand bargain on deficit reduction (to replace the sequester). The $3.77 billion budget request assumes that sequestration has been turned off, and therefore the FY 2014 top-line spending number does not include cuts required by sequestration. Conveniently, the budget request also makes comparisons with the FY 2012 enacted spending levels, which do not take into account the sequester. The White House was able to do this because technically they have 30 days from the time the final FY13 continuing resolution was passed (March 22nd) to calculate the final spending numbers, including cuts from the sequester. The budget also assumes that Congress will consider increased tax revenue and entitlement reform, both very sticky political subjects.

Summary of President’s FY14 Budget Request

Christy Gullion — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:02:57 +0000

Yesterday, President Obama released his FY14 budget request — nearly two months later than required by law. Much of the delay was blamed on the sequester and the prolonged FY13 appropriations process that resulted in a year-long continuing resolution (CR). In a typical year, the President’s Budget Request (PBR) kicks off the annual appropriations season, but with the delays, Congress has moved forward with their own budget proposals. This leaves us with three very different budget proposals with which to base the annual appropriations process. In other words, the process is once again sure to be a mess come later this fall. Our April Federal Update reviews the PBR and highlights those agencies and programs that we care about the most. You can also access the PBR and all the supporting documents at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget.