FY2019 Appropriations Bills Begin to Move

Posted on May 16, 2018

With the FY2019 set to start October 1, the appropriations bills for the year have begun to move through Congress, with the House Appropriations Committee taking up a number of bills the past several days.

The subcommittee that oversees the Commerce-Justice-Science bill, which funds various agencies and programs of interest to the university– such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and NOAA– cleared its bill last week and the measure is slated for full Appropriations Committee consideration tomorrow.

The subcommittee-approved version of the bill would fund NSF at $8.17 billion, an increase of approximately $400 million. Within the agency, the Research and Related Activities account would receive $6.65 billion, an increase of $317 million above the current level. The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account would be funded at $268 million under this version of the legislation, of which $123.8 million would be dedicated to the construction of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

Under the bill, the Space Grant Program at NASA would be level funded at $40 million in FY2019.

Within NOAA, the Integrated Ocean Observing System would see a slight increase to $37.5 million. The bill would appropriate $68.5 million to the Sea Grant Program while separately funding the Marine Aquaculture program at $11.5 million.

The legislation also funds the various NOAA Cooperative Institutes (CIs). Climate research CIs would be funded at $73.0 million in FY2019, compared to $60 million this year. However, the bill would also eliminate the Competitive Research, Sustained Observation, and Regional Information Program in the broader Climate Research account at NOAA.

Additional details about the bill are available here.

The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee cleared its funding bill last night, sending it to the full committee for its consideration in the near future. While most of the details about the bill are not yet available, it would fund the Earthquake Early Warning system at $21 million in FY2019. Office of Federal Relations will provide additional details about this and other bills as they become available.

Across the Capitol, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) announced that his committee will move on its bills starting next week.

White House Releases “Rescission” Package

Posted on May 8, 2018May 14, 2018

As expected, the White House Office of Management and Budget released its package of proposed rescissions earlier today. The list of programs targeted for cuts is available here. The package includes 38 items, totaling approximately $15 billion in cuts.

The biggest portion of the package, roughly $7 billion, would come from the Children Health Insurance Program and more than $4 billion would come come from the Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program.

Administration “Rescission” Package Expected This Week

Posted on May 7, 2018May 7, 2018

The Trump Administration is expected to send to Congress a “rescission” package this week that would seek about $15 billion in cuts to already approved spending in prior years.

Unhappy about the size of the recently passed FY2018 omnibus spending bill, a group of House conservatives had asked the Administration to take steps to cancel or “rescind” parts of the spending package. While there is some receptivity to the proposal in the House, it is a non-starter in the Senate, in which Senators of both parties would oppose such a move.

In an attempt to placate the conservatives, the Administration is expected to send to Congress this week a package of proposed cuts from prior years, totaling approximately $15 billion. In order for the cuts to be adopted, Congress must agreed to them in 45 days. Although the exact contents of the package are currently unknown, it is believed that none of the programs funded by the omnibus bill would be affected.

Regardless of how Congress officially reacts to the the Administration proposal, the funds for the programs listed for rescission by the Administration would be “impounded,” or frozen, for 45 days.

The Office of Federal Relations will provide updates throughout this process.

Changes Seen on Senate Appropriations Committee

Posted on April 18, 2018

As expected, with the resignation of Thad Cochran (R-MS), Richard Shelby (R-AL) has officially taken over the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Along with the top spot on the full committee, Sen. Shelby has also assumed the gavel of the Defense Subcommittee, which was also led by Cochran before his resignation.

The vacancy in the top spot on the Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee created by Shelby’s move to Defense has been filled by Jerry Moran (R-KS).

Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to fill the remainder of Cochran’s term by the governor of Mississippi, has taken his seat on the full committee.

Omnibus Signed After Last Minute Veto Threat

Posted on March 23, 2018

After surprising most of Washington with a last minute tweet this morning threatening to veto the FY2018 omnibus spending bill, President Trump ultimately signed it into law this afternoon. As the last minute hurdles were being cleared on the Hill earlier this week, White House staff had assured Congressional Republicans that Trump would support the measure.

Earlier today, the President tweeted that he might veto the bill because it did not address the DACA issue and did not fully fund the border wall that he had wanted. Ultimately, he was persuaded to sign it to avoid a government shutdown.