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OMB & OSTP Release FY25 Budget Planning Memo

Late last week the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released their annual budget planning memo FY2025-OMB-OSTP-RD-Budget-Priorities-Memo.pdf (whitehouse.gov).  The memo emphasizes that federal research and development is integral to the just, vibrant, and ambitious future that America seeks and identifies key priority highlights including: AI, Global Security, Climate Research, Improving Health Outcomes, Reducing Barriers and Inequities, and Bolstering Industrial Innovation. The memo states that funding choices will be required given constrained discretionary funding caps, emphasizing that agencies should clearly state how funding relates to these key priorities.

August Recess: Where are we at with appropriations?

Congress left for its annual August recess without passing any of its 12 fiscal year (FY) 2024 appropriations bills, creating an uncertain outlook for how the process will proceed this fall. While the Senate Appropriations Committee approved all 12 of its bills, the House Appropriations Committee moved only 10 of its 12 measures, withholding full committee markup of the Commerce, Justice, and Science and Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bills. Further complicating the prospects for action on final FY 2024 spending measures is that the House and Senate committees are marking up their bills using different topline discretionary spending numbers —  the Senate using the full amount allowed by the recent debt ceiling agreement and the House voluntarily using a lower topline level. It remains to be seen how the two chambers will reconcile these differences, with a continuing resolution (CR) almost certain to be necessary to keep the government functioning prior to the start of FY 2024 on October 1. Negotiations over final FY 2024 spending bills are likely to extend late into the calendar year, if not into 2024. In the meantime, follow along with the process using our FY24 appropriations tracker, linked here.

NDAA Progress: Senate Releases Text; House Prepares for Floor Action

Congress returned this week for a three-week blitz before the August recess, with the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and FY24 spending bills on the list of priorities. The Senate Armed Services Committee released its version of the FY24 NDAA which will likely be considered on the floor next week. The House has also released its version which is teed up for floor consideration as well. There are hundreds of amendments that were filed that will need to be worked through. Some amendments target research security which UW and the higher education community are monitoring.

House Armed Services Committee staff is maintaining a floor amendment tracker, which will include vote outcomes, here.

SCOTUS Rejects Loan Forgiveness Plan

Following up on yesterday’s ruling on ending explicit use of race in admissions, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down earlier today the Biden Administration’s loan cancellation proposal.  In a 6 – 3 decision, the court’s majority ruled that the Education Department did not have the authority to cancel loans.  The decision is available here.  

You can read more about the decision here, here, and here

NDAA Markups Set for This Week

Both the House and Senate are set to have full committee mark ups for the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this week. HASC Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) expressed his praise for the bipartisan work of the seven subcommittees so far, however there are still many partisan issues to be addressed including disagreements related to the Space Command Headquarters and abortion polices in the military. The House’s spending bill includes about $826 billion for new discretionary funding, about $285 billion more than President Biden’s request. Democrats have signaled their disagreement with the bill by calling out the $1.1 billion in cuts to salaries for civilian personnel, the $714 million cut to climate change programs and $100 million cut to DEI efforts that are included in the House bill. Another key part of the House bill includes a $9 billion investment in the Indo-Pacific region focused on deterring Chinese aggression.

The Senate full committee will meet for what could be a three-day full committee markup of the 2024 NDAA. Read more about here.