Both the House and the Senate are in recess until Tuesday, September 8th.
Month: August 2009
Update from Washington, DC
After the historic vote to confirm US Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor – and add more funds to the popular “cash for clunkers” program – the Senate went into their August recess period. The House recessed last week and both will return after Labor Day.
To date, only four of the twelve FY2010 appropriations bills have been approved by the Senate. The remaining measures will likely to dominate the Senate’s floor time in September even as they continue negotiations over health care reform and climate legislation. Senate leaders appear optimistic that they could complete action on four of the eight remaining appropriations bills before the new fiscal year starts October 1st.
Democratic leaders and appropriators are still hoping to pass all 12 appropriations bills through regular order, avoiding the need for an omnibus. However, it appears more and more likely that they will need to approve a short-term continuing resolution. Stay tuned…
Throughout the August recess period, Senate and House Democratic staff and lawmakers will begin informal conference negotiations on the four spending bills the Senate has passed: Legislative Branch, Homeland Security, Energy and Water, and Agriculture. The Senate has named conferees for those bills, but the House has not, which is why these discussions remain “informal” at this point.
Christy Gullion, Director
OMB and OSTP Direct Agencies to Focus on Science in FY11 Budget Requests
In a memo released this week, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) directed agencies to make research and development a priority when formulating their FY11 budget requests. Specifically, the memo directs agencies to invest in r&d that drive economic growth, promote energy effeciency and improve quality of life.
In late September, the UW Office of Federal Relations will begin planning its advocacy efforts for FY11, additional details on how to participate in the process will be provide to our campuses at that time.
Seen in DC
Dr. Samuel Wasser, Director of the Center for Conservation Biology, and a research professor at the UW Department of Biology, was invited to DC to testify at a hearing on the Global Wildlife Conservation, Coordination and Enhancement Act of 2009. The hearing was held by the House Committee on Natural Resources’ Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife on Tuesday, July 28th. The day prior to his testimony, Dr. Wasser met with staff from the offices of Washington Senators Cantwell and Murray and Representatives Inslee and McDermott to discuss his work.
UW Provost Executive Vice President Phyllis Wise arrived in DC the last week of July to attend meetings at the National Institute of Health. She also had lunch at the White House with UW’s Paul Miller, who is working as part of the Obama transition team.
Also in DC the last week of July was Ruth Ballweg, Director of MEDEX at the UW. While here she met with Federal Relations Director Christy Gullion about the Physician’s Assistant program at the UW.
Senate Approves FY10 Agriculture Spending Bill
The Senate approved their Agriculture spending bill yesterday – the fourth fiscal 2010 spending bill passed by the Senate. Informal work to begin reconciling the four spending bills passed by both chambers is expected to occur over the August break so that conference reports can be considered in September. Before leaving last week for its recess, the House reached its goal of passing all 12 spending bills.