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Category: 2015 UW Agenda

FY 2015 Continuing Resolution Released

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Last night, the House of Representatives released their version of the FY2015 Continuing Resolution to fund federal government through December 11, 2014.

The CR would fund the government at its current rate of $1.012 trillion annually with only a few changes in spending. Those changes include the Administration’s $88 million request to fight the Ebola crisis, providing money to both speed up the development and manufacturing of Ebola drugs and to support medical specialists on the ground in West Africa. The measure does not include any new funding for the child migrant crisis, or any extra funding for fighting the Islamic State terrorist group known as ISIS. The measure would, however, extend the Internet access tax moratorium, boost spending for disability claims processing at the VA, and continue heightened funding for certain eastern European-related programs at the State Department. Finally, and probably the most controversial change, the CR would extend authorization of the Export-Import Bank through June 2015, something that Congress was unable to agree on prior to their August recess.

The CR is expected to move through the House Rules Committee on today and come to the floor under a closed rule without the chance for amendments tomorrow. Meanwhile, Senate appropriators are working through the details of their own CR proposal. We expect to see that proposal once the House approves their CR and sends it to the Senate for consideration. And all of this is expected to be complete before September 23rd when Congress is scheduled to break until after the mid-term elections.

Congress back to work but only for two weeks

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Congress returns to the Capitol today after a month-long recess period. The top order of business this month is passing a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown on October 1st – and they have as little as two weeks in the current work schedule to get that done. House Republican leadership wants to move a stopgap funding bill, also known as a continuing resolution (CR), that lasts through early December. The Senate is expected to follow shortly afterward. Such a stopgap is expected to do little more than extend fiscal 2014 spending levels and policy directives (PL 113-76) through December 11th or 12th. Reaching a final agreement on FY15 spending will be work for the lame-duck session of Congress in November.

Senators Introduce America COMPETES

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Senators Jay Rockefeller, (D-UW and Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Ed Markey (D-MA) have introduced the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2014.

The Senators’ bill would authorize stable and sustained increases in federal research and development (R&D) funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The bill would also promote the economic benefits of promising R&D and address agency efforts, including at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to increase participation in STEM fields, including among women and minorities.

The House has considered several contentious measures to reauthorize America COMPETES over the last year. The measure introduced by the Senate is in direct competition to the House versions.

The Senate version can be viewed here.

The Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor the legislation and update the progress of the measure.

FY 2015 Appropriations Process Stalled

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There are just two weeks left until Congress adjourns for the month of August (August 1st—September 5th). This week lawmakers will return to DC and try to advance a few pieces of legislation – including refilling the Highway Trust Fund and reaching a deal on veterans’ health care legislation – before the end of August.

On the appropriations front, there is not much news to report. With the Senate’s regular appropriations work stalled and an emergency spending request for migrant children taking up time and energy on Capitol Hill, a full government-wide continuing resolution (CR) now appears to be a near certainty for the fall. Congress has until September 30th – the end of the federal fiscal year – to complete appropriations work. Many senior appropriators say they now see a 12-bill CR as a near inevitability. The more pressing question in coming weeks for appropriators will be not if, but how long stopgap legislation would last and if any other provisions, including perhaps some border spending, might be attached to it. If a CR is approved, we are likely to see an omnibus spending bill in the lame-duck session after the midterm elections.

In other news, Cora B. Marrett announced that she will resign her position as Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) effective August 24th. Marrett was confirmed as NSF Deputy Director in 2011. She has also served as NSF’s acting director and acting deputy director. Marrett served as the first assistant director for the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences directorate, and as assistant director for the Education and Human Resources directorate.