Following the Senate’s passage of the CR, the White House issued a Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP) in support of the CR. While the SAP does express concerns and desires for what is or should have been included, the White House does express support for the overall legislation.
Category: Administration
White House Announces Opposition to Overtime Rule Delay
Today the White House issued a Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP) regarding President Obama’s intent to veto HR 6094, the Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and Nonprofits Act, should the measure be presented to him. HR 6094 would delay implementation of the Department of Labor’s new overtime rules until June 1, 2017, and may go to the House floor for a vote this week. While the title of the bill suggests the delay would impact a small segment of employers, the bill would delay the entirety of the overtime rule.
As a refresher, the new DOL overtime rule increases the threshold under which most salaried employees are eligible for overtime from $23,660 to $47,476 per year. The Administration’s SAP can be viewed here.
Senate Pushes CR Off Until Monday
After a week of declarations and revisions, the Senate has postponed their consideration of a CR until Monday. Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle conceded they are not prepared to wrap up negotiations this week.
Congressional leaders and appropriators have been working on the funding bill since coming back into session earlier this month. The key sticking points appear to be language in the Zika conference report that would restrict which clinics in Puerto Rico can receive additional funding and an exemption for certain types of mosquito spraying under the Clean Water Act. Those objections caused Democrats to block the $1.1 billion Zika funding bill in the Senate in June.
In addition to Zika funding, numerous lawmakers have requested that emergency spending, including money for Flint’s lead-contaminated drinking water problem and Louisiana’s recent flooding. The White House sent a $2.6 billion emergency funding request to Congress on Tuesday and Louisiana Members are pushing for at least some of that money to be added to the CR.
While the Senate has, so far and continues to, lead the discussions around a CR and many expect McConnell to move legislation through his chamber first, beginning with procedural vote Monday night. House Appropriations Chair Hal Rogers (R-KY) said he reserved the right for the House to move a bill to the floor before the Senate, but with the House leaving early Thursday afternoon, such a move seems unlikely.
OMB Updated Sequestration Report
This week the Office of Budget and Management (OMB) released a report regarding enforcement of the discretionary spending caps for both 2016 and 2017 as contained in the Sequester. The OMB must issue a final sequestration report after the Congress adjourns and to date, no 2017 appropriations bills have been enacted into law and, therefore, no changes are reflected to the current 2017 caps. However, if the 2017 discretionary caps remain unchanged, the report estimates that, if enacted, the actions by the House of Representatives would result in a sequestration of $17 million in the defense category and a sequestration of $775 million in the non-defense category. Additionally, the report finds that the Senate is in compliance with both of the current 2017 spending limits. Finally, OMB estimates that present conference action on pending 2016
supplemental appropriations, if enacted, would not breach the current 2016 limits.
NSF Accepting Nominations for Alan T. Waterman Award
Today, the National Science Foundation announced it is accepting nominations for the 2017 Alan T. Waterman Award, which recognizes young researchers for their creativity and influence. The announcement reads:
Dear Colleague:
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is pleased to accept nominations for the 2017 Alan T. Waterman Award. Each year, the Foundation bestows the Waterman Award in recognition of the talent, creativity, and influence of a singular young researcher. Established in 1975 to commemorate the Foundation’s first Director, the Waterman Award is NSF’s highest honor for promising, early-career researchers.
Nominees are accepted from all sources, and from any field of science and engineering that NSF supports. The award recipient will receive a medal and an invitation to the formal awards ceremony in Washington, DC. In addition, the recipient will receive a grant of $1,000,000 over a five-year period for scientific research or advanced study in any field of science or engineering supported by the NSF, at any institution of the recipient’s choice. We are especially interested in nominations for women, members of underrepresented groups in science and engineering, and persons with disabilities.
Eligibility and Selection Criteria
- A candidate must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. He or she must be 35 years of age or younger, or not more than 7 years beyond receipt of the Ph.D. degree, by December 31, 2016.
- A candidate should have demonstrated exceptional individual achievement in scientific or engineering research of sufficient quality, originality, innovation, and significant impact on the field so as to situate him or her as a leader among peers.
Complete nomination packages, consisting of nominations and four letters of reference, are due by October 21, 2016. The nominations and letters must be received through the FastLane system. To submit a nomination, please visit https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/honawards/.
Please contact Dr. Sherrie Green, Program Manager for the Alan T. Waterman Award at waterman@nsf.gov or 703-292-8040 if you have any questions. You may also visit http://www.nsf.gov/od/waterman/waterman.jsp for more information. A PDF version of the call for nominations is available athttp://www.nsf.gov/od/waterman/nsf_watermanaward_2017callfornominations_160708.pdf.
The nomination of deserving colleagues is one of the most important and gratifying aspects of service in the scientific and engineering communities. Please help celebrate the contributions of a promising young researcher by submitting a nomination for the Alan T. Waterman award.
Sincerely,
/// signed ///
France A. Córdova
Director
National Science Foundation
Office of the Director
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1205
Arlington, VA 22230