The FY2019 appropriations process continued to move forward today.
The House agreed to its version of the Defense spending bill by a vote of 359 to 49. The detailed report for the bill is available here.
In the Senate, the full Appropriations Committee adopted its version of the Labor-HHS-Education and Defense spending bills. While most of the details from the two bills are not yet available, the bills’ highlights have been posted by committee here and here.
The Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee reported out this morning its FY2019 bill. While most of the legislation’s details are not yet available, Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) highlighted during his remarks the $2-billion increase in the bill slated for NIH. He also called out the proposed Pell Grant maximum of $6,195 and the continuation of the year-round Pell. A press release about the highlights of the bill is available here.
The bill is slated to be taken up by the full Appropriations Committee on Thursday, when the panel will also consider the Defense bill.
More details will be posted as they become available.
Both chambers of Congress continue their march through the FY2019 appropriations process.
The Senate Appropriations Committee took up and cleared its Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS), Interior, and Legislative Branch bills earlier today, meaning that the committee has cleared seven of the 12 spending bills. Some of the initial details about the CJS and Interior bills were posted yesterday.
In the House, the Defense spending measure was reported out by the Appropriations Committee yesterday and the Labor-HHS-Education bill is scheduled to be taken up by its subcommittee Friday morning.
House Defense Appropriations Bill
A copy of the detailed report for the bill is available here.
Subcommittee Labor-HHS-Education Bill
While the full details from the bill are not yet available, some of the contents of the measure are known.
We will share additional details as they become available.
More details of the FY2018 Omnibus spending package unveiled last are now available.
Within the budget for the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Nursing Workforce Development programs would be funded at $249.5 million, an increase of $20 million above the final FY2017 enacted levels. The Public Health and Preventive Medicine program would be level funded at $17.0 million under this bill.
With respect to programs funded by the Department of Education, Title VI/ International Education programs would collectively be level funded at $72.2 million. The Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) program would see a cut of $5 million to $23.0 million.
The bill provides $350 million to allow borrowers not currently eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to join it. It also would use a portion of the surplus from the Pell Grant program to over the increased mandatory expense associated with the increase in the maximum award.
The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account at the National Science Foundation would be funded at the Administration-requested level of $182.8 million, with $57.8 million dedicated to the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, also as requested by the Administration.
Within the NASA budget, Earth Science programs would essentially be level funded at $1.9 billion. The popular Space Grant program would be level funded at the FY2017 level of $40.0 million.
The Commerce-Justice-State portion of the package funds, among other agencies and programs, NOAA and its various programs. Sea Grant, which was proposed for elimination by the Administration, would see a slight increase to $76.5 million while the Integrated Ocean Observing System program would be funded at $35.0 million, also a slight increase above the FY2017 level. As part of the Climate Research account within the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) line, Climate Research Labs and Cooperative Institutes are slated for level funding of $60 million.
Of interest in the Interior portion of the massive legislative package, the bill would level fund the Cooperative Research Units at the U.S. Geological Survey at $17.4 million while mandating that the Survey maintain a total of eight Climate Science Centers around the country in FY2018 and keeping them level funded at $25.3 million.
Office of Federal Relations will provide further details.
Earlier today, Alex Azar was sworn in as the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. He was confirmed by the Senate last week.