April 5, 2011
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing last week to assess hydrokinetic energy as an untapped resource with enormous potential opportunity. Bill S630 regarding Marine and Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2011 was the primary focus of the hearing and if passed would secure funding for research and development of this… Read More
February 2, 2011
Yesterday, Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) announced that the Senate will not advance earmark requests during the FY11 and FY12 appropriations cycles. The annoumcement follows decisions by the House of Representatives and President Obama to oppose the inclusion of special member projects in appropriations bills. Senator Inouye’s statement affirms his belief that Members of Congress should be able to direct… Read More
December 17, 2010
Yesterday evening, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) decided to pull the FY11 omnibus appropriations package from the Senate schedule.The move came after several committed “aye” votes decided that they could no longer support the legislation due to concerns about the overall cost and presence of earmarks. The next step in the FY11 process will… Read More
December 7, 2010
Leaders in the House have released a tentative schedule for calendar year 2011. However, the endgame for the current Congress and the FY11 appropriations process remains uncertain. Passage of appropriations bills for the current fiscal year now rest on the ability of the Senate leadership to garner the necessary 60 votes. It is expected that an outcome on… Read More
September 27, 2010
The Office of Federal Relations has released a notice calling for projects and agency/program funding recommendations for inclusion in the official UW FY12 Federal Agenda. The notice was distributed to UW deans, vice provosts, and other senior members of the administration. Individuals interested in learning more about the process are invited to contact the UW Office of… Read More
August 5, 2010
House Passes Oil Spill Bill Before adjourning for the August recess, the House of Representatives passed an oil spill response bill, HR 3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010 (CLEAR Act). The House bill removes the $75 million cap on economic liability reimbursement for offshore oil spills, restructures the Department of… Read More
August 5, 2010
The Senate today passed a crucial amendment that will help states avoid education job losses, and provides desperately needed Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) payments to states . The FMAP/Teacher Jobs Bill passed the senate on a vote of 61-39 and will now be sent to the House where most expect it to pass and then sent to… Read More
June 1, 2010
Congress is in recess this week. The Senate will resume Monday, June 7th at 2:00 pm and the House will resume Tuesday, June 8th at 2:00 pm.
May 31, 2010
Before leaving for the Memorial Day congressional recess, the House passed a package of tax “extenders” (HR 4213) by a vote of 215 to 204. It retroactively extended a number of expired provisions of interest to the higher education community, including: the tuition deduction, the ability to “rollover” Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) without penalty; and,… Read More
May 13, 2010
Yesterday, Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) released their newly revised and long awaited energy and climate bill. Some of the key provisions of the legislation released today: Sets a “price collar” on carbon emissions, including predictable floor and a ceiling price. Industrial sources of carbon emissions are not regulated until 2016, after… Read More
