Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced today that he is cancelling most of the traditional month-long August recess. Under the new schedule, the Senate would have a week-long recess at the beginning of August but would return to Washington for the rest of the month.
Read more about McConnell’s decision here, here, and here. It is still possible that the August recess could be extended.
The House has not announced any changes to its August schedule.
The Senate on Thursday effectively failed to move forward with any of four immigration proposals put forward today. This included a Republican proposal backed by President Donald Trump that would grant 1.8 million “Dreamers” a path to citizenship and provide $25 billion for a border wall and security improvements.
The action came on a 39-60 vote to limit debate on an amendment by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-IA), to an unrelated bill (HR 2579) related to the Administration’s “Four Pillars” proposal Sixty votes were needed to invoke cloture.
Grassley’s proposal mirrored Trump’s framework to provide a path to citizenship for Dreamers brought to the United States as children in exchange for border security funding. It would also end family-based immigration or “chain migration” and phase out a diversity lottery program. Democrats considered the restrictions on family-based immigration a nonstarter.
The Senate earlier rejected three other immigration proposals, including a bipartisan deal by 16 mostly centrist Senators, calling themselves the “Common Sense Caucus,” that Trump threatened to veto because it did not do enough to limit family-based immigration.
All amendments failed this afternoon.
There was no clear path forward in the House for any of these proposals.
Today Dr. Oren Etzioni, CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and UW Professor of Computer Science, was invited by the subcommittee chair to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Technology in the first of two committee meetings slated to discuss the future of artificial intelligence. Dr. Etzioni was joined by experts from Intel, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and NVIDIA. Check out the hearing on YouTube.
The President’s Budget Request (PBR) for FY2019 was released this morning. The Administration’s efforts for the coming fiscal year included a continued focus on regulatory reform and reduction and investment in infrastructure.
Entitled, “Efficient, Effective, Accountable, and American Budget”, highlights of the FY2019 PBR include:
Full information is not yet available, and many agency specific budget documents have yet to be released.
The President’s FY2019 Budget Overview is here.
The FY2019 proposed major savings and reforms are here.
The addendum to the budget is here.
Given the FY2018 and FY2019 Budget agreement reached by Congress late last week, the Administration has sumitted an addendum to its original submission. Parts of the FY2019 PBR does address the request for increased funding and parts do not. Federal Relations continues to work on the determining the impacts of the final proposal and the blog will be updated as more information becomes available.
Highlights per agency:
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
The FY2019 PBR requests $19 billion for USDA (excluding changes in mandatory programs), a $3.7 billion or 16-percent decrease from the 2017 enacted level. To respond to the $2.4 billion needed to fight forest fires last year, the PBR responsibly funds 100 percent of the rolling 10-year average cost for wildfire suppression in the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior within discretionary budget caps.
It would eliminate funding for Forest Service Land acquisition and McGovern-Dole International Food for Education program.
Department of Commerce
The FY2019 PBR requests $9.8 billion for DOC (including changes in mandatory programs), a $546 million or a 6-percent increase from the 2017 enacted level. The Budget eliminates the Economic Development Administration.
NOAA Grants and education is eliminated, including Sea Grant; the National Estuarine Research Reserve System; Coastal Zone Management Grants; the Office of Education; and the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund.
Department of Defense
The FY2019 PBR requests $686 billion for DOD, an $80 billion or 13-percent increase from the 2017 enacted level. This includes $597 billion for the base budget, and $89 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations. It does provide a 2.6% military pay raise – the largest increase in 9 years.
Department of Education
The FY2019 PBR requests $59.9 billion for the Department of Education, a $7.1 billion or 10.5-percent decrease from the 2017 enacted level. The Budget invests $1.1 billion in school choice programs.
The PBR proposes working with Congress to develop a system that would require postsecondary institutions accepting taxpayer funds to share a portion of the financial risk associated with student loans, in consideration of the actual loan repayment rate to ensure that the substantial taxpayer investment in higher education continues to provide strong value for students and the economy.
Cuts and changes to higher education appropriations–
Cuts to student loans – In addition to the cuts to appropriations, the budget cuts $203 billion from student loan programs over ten years (FY 2019-2028):
Department of Energy (DOE)
The FY2019 PBR requests $29 billion for DOE, a more than 3-percent decrease from the 2017 enacted level.
The budget would eliminate Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program ($305 million) and would cut Applied Energy Programs to $1.696 billion (a $2.080 billion cut). Within the proposed reductions, the budget would eliminate the Weatherization Assistance Program and State Energy Program. This would reduce Federal intervention in State-level energy policy and implementation, and would focus funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy on limited, early-stage applied energy R&D.
Health and Human Services (HHS)
The FY2019 PBR requests $68.4 billion for HHS, a $17.9 billion or 21-percent decrease from the 2017 enacted level. This Budget funding level includes additional funds for program integrity and implementing the 21st Century CURES Act and the 2017 enacted funding levels do not include actual fee collections and contract support costs. The Budget proposes $295 billion in mandatory savings, helping to put Federal spending on a sustainable path. In addition, the Budget includes $675 billion in net mandatory savings across HHS and the Department of the Treasury to repeal and replace Obamacare.
The budget would eliminate AHRQ ($324 million) and the Community Services Block Grant ($715 million). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health would receive $200 million ($135 million cut) and Health Workforce programs would receive $88 million (a $451 million, cut).
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
The FY2019 PBR requests $46 billion in discretionary appropriations for DHS, a $3.4 billion or 8-percent increase from the 2017 enacted level (excluding updated 2017 receipts). In addition, $6.7 billion is available to help communities overwhelmed by major disasters.
Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
The FY2019 PBR requests $39.2 billion in gross discretionary funding for HUD, an $8.8 billion or 18.3-percent decrease from the 2017 enacted level.
Department of Interior
The FY2019 PBR requests $11.3 billion for DOI, a $2.2 billion or 16-percent decrease from the 2017 enacted level. This funding level includes changes in mandatory programs.
Department of Justice
The FY2019 PBR requests $28 billion for the Department of Justice, a $345 million or 1.2-percent decrease from the 2017 enacted level.
Department of Labor
The FY2019 PBR requests $9.4 billion for DOL, a $2.6 billion or 21-percent decrease from the 2017 enacted level. The PBR contains a fully paid-for proposal to provide six weeks of paid family leave to new mothers and fathers, including adoptive parents. OSHA training grant would be eliminated ($11 million).
Department of State
The FY2019 PBR requests $25.8 billion in base funding for the Department of State and USAID, a $9 billion or 26-percent decrease from the 2017 enacted level. The Budget also requests $12 billion as Overseas Contingency Operations funding for extraordinary costs, primarily in war areas such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, for an Agency total of $37.8 billion, which is a $191 million increase from the 2018 Budget. The Budget also requests $1.4 billion for Department of the Treasury international programs, a $354 million or 20-percent reduction from the 2017 enacted level.
Department of Transportation
The FY2019 PBR requests $15.6 billion in discretionary budget authority for 2019, a $3.7 billion or 19-percent decrease from the 2017 enacted base discretionary level of $19.3 billion (which excludes supplemental emergency relief funding). The Budget also provides $60.9 billion in mandatory funds and obligation limitations. For programs funded from the Highway Trust Fund, the Budget is consistent with the fourth year of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) of 2015. The PBR includes a proposal to shift the air traffic control function of the Federal Aviation Administration to a non-governmental, independent air traffic services cooperative, making the system more efficient and innovative while maintaining safety.
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
The FY2019 PBR requests $83.1 billion for VA, an $8.7 billion, or 11.7-percent increase from the 2017 enacted level. The Budget provides $70.7 billion, a 9.6-percent increase above the 2017 enacted level, to provide high-quality healthcare services to veterans and eligible beneficiaries. The Budget also proposes $75.6 billion in advance appropriations for VA medical care programs in 2020, a 6.9-percent increase above the 2019 request. In addition, $11.9 billion would be used to enhance and expand veterans’ access to high-quality community care, by consolidating multiple community care programs, including the Veterans Choice Program, into one unified program.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
The FY2019 PBR requests $5.4 billion for EPA, a $2.8 billion or 34-percent decrease from the 2017 enacted level.
To enable each State to set its own environmental priorities and quickly respond to new threats as they arise, the budget provides $27 million for “Multipurpose Grants” within EPA’s Categorical Grant portfolio totaling $597 million. States would be able to spend this funding on any statutorily mandated delegated duty. EPA to administer the ENERGY STAR program through the collection of user fees. Product manufacturers that seek to label their products under the program would pay a modest fee to support EPA’s work to set voluntary energy efficiency standards and to process applications.
The budget provides $246 million (a $229 million cut) for EPA to continue to perform research and development activities in support of core mission areas, focusing on air quality, water resources, sustainable communities, chemical safety, and human health risk assessment.
NASA
The FY2019 PBR requests a total of $19.6 billion for NASA, a $500 million (2.6-percent) increase from the 2018 Budget ($61 million below NASA’s 2017 funding level). The Office of Education would by eliminated ($100 million).
National Science Foundation (NSF)
The FY 2019 FY2019 PBR requests level funding for NSF of $7.472 billion. There is a $145 million increase requested for the Research & Related Activities account to allow NSF to invest in priority areas like Advancing NSF’s Big Ideas – bold questions that will drive NSF’s long-term research agenda; implementing agency reforms centered on accelerating focused, cross-disciplinary efforts around two of the NSF Big Ideas – The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier, and Harnessing the Data Revolution; and beginning construction on the Antarctic Infrastructure Modernization for Science project. There is a $1120 million decrease for the Major Research Equipment & Facilities Construction account is largely due to the support for two new Regional Class Research Vessels. No other information is available at this time.
Other Independent Agency Cuts:
Corporation for Public Broadcasting would receive $15 million, a $480 million cut.
Institute of Museum and Library Services would receive $23 million, a $208 million cut.
National Endowment for the Arts would receive $29 million, a $121 million cut.
National Endowment for the Humanities would receive $42 million, a $108 million cut.
The House has passed and President Trump has signed the CR passed earlier today by the Senate. The federal government is back open and expected to operate normally tomorrow.