Debt Decision Time:  President Obama and Congressional leaders will meet over the weekend, when it is expected they will know whether a major deficit reduction deal is possible.   All parties want an agreement on deficit reduction as soon as possible to provide sufficient time for Congress to draft, debate, and pass the legislation to increase the nation’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit before the August 2^nd date, which is when the Treasury says it will no longer have enough money to pay all its debts and obligations.  The President is pushing for a large deficit reduction deal totaling about $4 trillion over the next decade, although three different proposals have been discussed:  a “small” $2 trillion plan, a $3 trillion alternative, and the larger plan to cut deficits by more than $4 trillion.  The size of any eventual deal likely rests on the willingness of Republican leaders to agree to revenue increases to reduce the deficit.  A larger package might also include more significant changes to Medicare and Social Security.  Democrats are worried about the possible cuts to entitlement programs and have vowed to oppose any debt reduction deal that cuts them dramatically.  We’ll all know more by Sunday.

Proposed Cuts to Graduate Medical Education Funding:  Major reductions in GME support for teaching hospitals and physician training remain under careful consideration among high-level negotiators as part of the debt negotiations.  President Obama has suggested that GME cuts are “on the table” and may be considered to reach agreement with Republican leaders.  UW School of Medicine has weighed in with congressional members throughout the WWAMI region on how these potential cuts will impact our ability to train primary care and family medicine physicians.  Next week, UWSOM Dean Paul Ramsey will meet with Members on Capitol Hill to urge them to reject GME cuts.

FY12 Appropriations Update:   This week, House appropriators released draft spending bills for Interior-Environment, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Legislative Branch.  The FY12 Energy-Water and Financial Services bills have already been voted out of committee and are awaiting floor action.  FY12 bills funding Defense, Agriculture, Military-VA, and Homeland Security already passed the House and were sent to the Senate for action.   House leaders hope to approve these nine of the 12 annual measures before the House leaves for August recess.  That leaves the three most controversial bills – Transportation-Housing, Labor-HHS-Education, and State-Foreign Operations – waiting until September for action.  The Senate, meanwhile, is moving much more slowly on their FY12 bills.  So far, they have only released their FY12 Military-VA bill.

Proposed Cuts to the NSF Construction Fund:  Congressman Norm Dicks (D-WA) fights back against proposed cuts to the NSF MREFC account that could affect the Ocean Observing Initiative (OOI).  Read more.     

House Panel Proposes Cuts to NEH Budget:  Yesterday, a House appropriations subcommittee approved legislation that would provide $20 million less to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in FY12 than the agency is receiving this year. The measure would allocate $135 million to the NEH, which would represent a reduction of 13 percent.  In an e-mail alert Thursday urging advocates for the humanities to oppose the measure, the National Humanities Alliance said that “these disproportionate cuts would compromise the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission.” The National Endowment for the Arts would also receive $135 million under the subcommittee’s bill, which the full Appropriations Committee is expected to take up next Tuesday.

UW Joins Colleagues to Support ARPA-E Funding:  The UW signed on to a Community Letter to the House in Support of FY12 Funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA‐E) Program.  We support funding for FY12 at a level equal to at least the FY11 level of $180 million.

Patent Reform Bill Stalled in Senate:  The Senate has been unable to quickly vote on the House-passed version of Patent Reform, and it now looks increasingly likely that votes will have to be allowed on a couple of controversial amendments to the bill, which could cause further problems.  One amendment which has already proven to be an obstacle is the issue of patent office funding.  While the House version of the bill included language that directed revenue to be continued to be handled through the appropriations process, a larger group of Senators continue to push for allowing USPTO to keep all of the revenue it generates from fees.  It is expected that the House would refuse any alteration made to the fee structure by the Senate.  Also holding up the process is the refusal by many in both chambers to discuss any other issues until the debt ceiling debate is resolved.

House Recess in Jeopardy:  The House will skip its next legislative break and stay in session the week of July 18^th in order to continue working on a debt limit deal.  The next planned recess begins August 6^th, after the Treasury Department’s deadline to raise the debt ceiling, when lawmakers will break until after Labor Day.

New Effort for Research on Global Development:  NSF and the Agency for International Development (USAID) on Thursday announced a new effort to promote research on global development.  Projects will be selected through peer review, and the National Academy of Sciences will administer the program.  Learn more.

National Science Board Seeking Nominations:  The NSB is seeking nominees for candidates to serve on the NSB for the years 2012-2018. All nominations will be given full consideration; the President nominates candidates who must be confirmed by the US Senate to serve on the Board.  Nominations are open through August 12, 2011.  The NSB is the 25-member policymaking body for NSF and advisory body to the President and Congress on science and engineering issues.  Drawn from industry and universities, and representing a variety of science and engineering disciplines and geographic areas, NSB members are selected for their eminence in research, education, or public service, and records of distinguished service.  NSB members are appointed for six-year terms.  The NSF director is an ex officio member of the NSB.  There is more information about the National Science Board and the nomination process online.

                          

National Institutes of Health- $31.8 billion, an increase of 3.3% over the FY10 level of $30.8 billion

White House/Office of Management and Budget HHS FY12 Budget Summary

National Science Foundation- $7.77 billion, an increase of 13% over the FY10 level of $6.87 billion –keeping the agency on track for a 10-year (FY08-FY17) doubling that is authorized in last year’s America COMPETES Act

NSF FY12 Budget Materials

Department of Energy, Office of Science- $5.4 billion, an increase of 10.2% over the FY10 level of $4.9 billion –keeping the agency on track for a 10-year (FY08-FY17) doubling that is authorized in last year’s America COMPETES Act. $550 million is also included for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to continue support for the promising early-stage research projects that could deliver game-changing clean energy technologies.

DoE FY12 Budget Materials

Department of Defense, Science and Technology- $12.2 billion for science and technology programs, which includes a 2% real growth in basic research

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency- $5.5 billion, an increase of 14.3% over the FY10 level of $4.85 billion

White House/Office of Management and Budget Department of Commerce FY12 Budget Summary

Department of Education-

• Continues support for a $5,550 maximum Pell Grant award, $819 above the level in 2008, largely paid for by eliminating the year-round Pell Grant and the in-school interest subsidy for graduate and professional student loans
• Invests $26.8 billion, an increase of 6.9 percent, in a reformed Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) focused on raising standards, encouraging innovation, and rewarding success, while allowing States and districts more flexibility to invest resources where they will have the greatest impact. The new ESEA directs funds to reform-oriented competitive initiatives, consolidates dozens of programs, and cuts programs that do not demand results.
• Provides $1.4 billion for new competitions, modeled on the Race to the Top initiative, to strengthen and reform early childhood education, improve district performance in elementary and secondary education, and improve outcomes in higher education

Department of Education FY12 Budget Materials

National Endowment for the Humanities- $146 million, a decrease of 13% from the FY10 level of $168 million

NEH FY12 Budget Summary

Additional information on President Obama’s FY12 budget request will be posted as it becomes available. The release of the President’s Budget Request (PBR) is the first step in appropriations process for the coming year. After Congress and the President settle on a path forward for FY11 — which began on October 1, 2010 — the FY12 process will begin to move forward.

                          

The proposal is only one of many circulating on the Hill right now, but provides some insight into how a significant portion of the House wishes to proceed on the budget.

RSC summary and list of programs targeted for elimination 

                          

NATIONAL HUMANITIES ALLIANCE TESTIFIES FOR INCREASED NEH FUNDING

On Thursday, April 23, National Humanities Alliance Vice President and American Council of Learned Societies President, Pauline Yu, testified before the House Interior, Environment, & Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee for increased funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Ms. Yu urged the Subcommittee to provide the National Endowment for the Humanities with funding of at least $230 million in Fiscal Year 2010, including an additional $50 million for competitive grant programs and $25 million for operating grants to state humanities councils, over the FY 2009 enacted level.

She cited the value of the humanities to our nation’s long-term economic well-being, and to our continued status as a world leader. She highlighted the demand for humanities grants by explaining how in FY 2008, applications for NEH grants in all programs represented $421 million in requested funds, more than three times the program dollars obligated for that year.  At the national level, only 16% of competitive, peer-reviewed project proposals were funded, compared to a 26% funding rate for merit-reviewed projects at the National Science Foundation (an agency similar to NEH in its connection to higher education and its mission to strengthen education and research at all levels in its sector).

She further described how new funding for NEH would allow for the agency to provide targeted leadership in the areas of humanities data collection and support for graduate education in the humanities. International education and digital humanities were listed as additional areas where new funding would be useful.

Chairman Norm Dicks (WA-6) and Ranking Member Mike Simpson (ID-2) expressed gratitude for Ms. Yu’s testimony and support for the humanities.

The National Humanities Alliance’s written testimony is available.

NHA & COALITION FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION MEMBERS SUBMIT FY 2010  REQUESTS FOR INTERNATIONAL & FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROGRAMS

Last week, the National Humanities Alliance joined other members of the Coalition for International Education (CIE) in requesting a $58 million increase for international education programs within the US Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education. The Coalition requested total funding of $176.8 million for FY 2010, including:

• $153.8 million for international education and foreign language 
  training programs authorized under Title VI of the Higher Education 
  Act (a $51.5 million increase)
• $19.8 million for the Fulbright-Hays Program (a $5.1 million 
  increase)
• $3.2 million for the Institute for International Public Policy (a 
  $1.4 million increase)

CIE also urged support for growth in both comprehensive and international consortia competitive programs within the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE).  $31.3 million in funding was recommended for the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP), a $5 million increase.

The full text of the memo and funding requests is available.

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER FOR NEH SUBMITTED IN THE HOUSE

On April 3, ninety-eight Representatives joined Congressmen David Price (D-NC) and Thomas Petri (WI-6) in signing a letter addressed to Chairman Dicks and Ranking Member Simpson on the House Interior, Environment, & Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee.  The letter requested $230 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities in fiscal year 2010, an increase of approximately $75 million over the fiscal year 2009 enacted level.

The letter, with signatures, is available.