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Category: Appropriations

Congress Passes $1.8 Trillion FY 2016 Spending and Tax Extension Bill

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This morning the House & Senate approved a $1.8 trillion fiscal year 2016 omnibus spending bill, averting a government shutdown and funding the federal establishment through September 2016. The measure passed with a 316-113 vote in the House followed by a 65-33 vote in the Senate. President Obama is said to sign the measure into law imminently. We encourage you to review our FY2016 Omnibus Analysis. Please let Christy Gullion, UW Director of Federal Relations (cgullion@uw.edu), or Sarah Castro, UW Associate Director of Federal Relations (smcastro@uw.edu), know if you have questions.

 

As noted in a previous post, highlights of the bill include:

  • The National Institutes of Health received $32 billion, $2 billion above current levels.
  • The National Science Foundation is funded at $7.5 billion, an increase of $119 million, and directorates such as Social and Behavioral Sciences were funded at FY 2015 levels.
  • NASA is funded at $19.3 billion, an increase of $1.3 billion above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level to advance America’s leadership in space and science. Within this total, $4 billion is provided for Exploration, including funding to keep the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System on schedule, and $5.6 billion is provided for science programs.
  • Defense research was funded at $69.8 billion for research, development, testing, and evaluation of new defense technologies, which was minor increases.
  • The maximum Pell Grant award is increased to $5,915.
  • Title VI International Education programs were held at FY 2015 levels.
  • NOAA received $5.8 billion, which is $325 million above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. Funding was included for the National Weather Service to provide critical weather information to the public, and investments in new and existing weather satellites that are essential to maintain and improve weather forecasts, including the Polar Follow On program.
  • Maximum Pell Grant award to $5,915, funded by a combination of discretionary and mandatory funds.

 

In addition to omnibus appropriations, the bill includes a $680 million tax package, which makes permanent several tax provisions that were previously subject to extensions including the research and experimentation tax credit and several charitable donation tax breaks. More information on this can be found here.

Omnibus Released

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House Republican Leadership released the long-awaited FY 2016 omnibus appropriations and tax extenders package late last night. The $1.15 trillion, 2,009-page package was delayed until just after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday after party leaders spent Tuesday swapping final offers.

House Republican Leadership initially said they would adhere to the GOP’s “three-day rule,” releasing the package on Tuesday and scheduling a House final passage vote Thursday. However, with the delay in filing the measure until Wednesday morning, the House also unveiled a third short-term continuing resolution (CR) to extend federal spending authority until December 22nd as a precautionary measure. The third stop gap is expected to pass both chamber today as the second CR expires tonight at midnight.

At present, the House is expected to vote on the tax-extenders package on Thursday and the omnibus spending bill on Friday, the last business for Congress before the holidays.

House Democrats have not endorsed the legislation yet, but have stated they will go through the massive bill line-by-line.

The FY 2016 Omnibus abandons the most contentious policy riders that have highly contentious and held up recent negotiations, including language that would have penalized Planned Parenthood, blocked a major clean water rule from the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers, relaxed coordination restrictions on the national political parties, imposed new restrictions on refugees from the Middle East, and peeled back portions of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul.

One of the biggest legislative add-ons to the omnibus is a repeal of the decades-old ban on crude oil exports, which is a priority for House Republicans.

The Senate is expected to consider the legislation later in the week.

Given the size of the bill, details are still forthcoming, but highlights include:

  • The National Institutes of Health received $32 billion, $2 billion above current levels.
  • The National Science Foundation is funded at $7.5 billion, an increase of $119 million, and directorates such as Social and Behavioral Sciences were funded at FY 2015 levels.
  • NASA is funded at $19.3 billion, an increase of $1.3 billion above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level to advance America’s leadership in space and science. Within this total, $4 billion is provided for Exploration, including funding to keep the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System on schedule, and $5.6 billion is provided for science programs.
  • Defense research was funded at $69.8 billion for research, development, testing, and evaluation of new defense technologies, which was minor increases.
  • The maximum Pell Grant award is increased to $5,915.
  • Title VI International Education programs were held at FY 2015 levels.
  • NOAA received $5.8 billion, which is $325 million above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. Funding was included for the National Weather Service to provide critical weather information to the public, and investments in new and existing weather satellites that are essential to maintain and improve weather forecasts, including the Polar Follow On program.
  • Maximum Pell Grant award to $5,915, funded by a combination of discretionary and mandatory funds.

Federal Relations continues to review the legislation and will continue to provide updates.

 

 

 

McCarthy Announces Short-term CR

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House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced that the House will take up a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR), as expected previously, to fund the federal government beyond midnight Friday.

At this point, it is unclear how long the CR will last, but with the announcement McCarthy also said that Members should expect to work Friday and Saturday.

If the House works through the weekend, it is highly unlikely they will stay into next week, and there will be some resolution, whether that be an omnibus or a longer CR, soon.

Stay tuned…

Approps Timeline Slips

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With Congressional spending authority set to expire midnight on Friday, the likelihood of a deal before the deadline has become increasingly more unlikely.

Without any apparent consensus on a broader funding agreement, the Congressional leadership is not set to file an omnibus appropriations bill Monday night, as required by House rules, for consideration later this week as leadership had planned.  Last week, House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) said he hoped to have an Omnibus bill drafted and ready to unveil at some point on Monday, which would have allowed the House a midweek vote.

Negotiations over the FY2016 appropriations and tax extender package are ongoing, but how to deal with contentious policy riders, which the House Democrats rejected last week, have not moved forward. It is now highly likely Congress will pass a short-term CR. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has also said that there is a possibility Congress will work through the weekend.

Congress is scheduled to be in session until December 18th. The longer Congress is unable to come to a resolution about the omnibus and tax extender legislation, the more likely a long-term Continuing Resolution will be the funding vehicle for FY 2016..