The House Labor-HHS report includes increases for a number of agencies, programs, and accounts of great interest to both UW and the broader higher education community. These include, for example, the following–
NIH
The bill calls for $49.4 billion for NIH, an increase of $6.5 billion above the current level. Of the proposed $6.5-billion increase, $3.5 billion would be for the base NIH budget and $3 billion would be for the creation of ARPA-Health (ARPA-H), a new proposal from the Biden Administration. The report states that ARPA-H should be a distinct entity within the NIH structure.
Student Aid/ Higher Education
- Pell Grant
The House bill would increase the Pell Grant maximum to $6,895 from the current maximum of $6,495.
- International education programs (Title VI)
Under the House bill, the collection of international education programs would see an increase of 19.2% and would be funded at $93.2 million. Currently, these programs are funded at $78.2 million.
- FWS/SEOG/ TRIO/ GEAR UP/ GAANN
Federal Work Study would be increased by 20.5% to $1.43 billion while TRIO would see an increase of 18.2% to $1.3 billion. In addition, GEAR UP would be increased by 10.9% to $408 million. On the graduate education side, the bill proposes to support GAANN at $25.5 million, an increase of 8.5% (this program has not seen an increase in several years).
- IES
The committee proposes to fund the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at $762.5 million, nearly a 19% increase.
Policy provisions
In addition to funding various programs and agencies, the bill would also allow DACA-eligible students to become Pell-eligible.
We will provide updates on this bill as the legislative process continues to move forward.