Category: Budget

The House and Senate will likely advance the remaining 9 fiscal year 2009 spending bills this week, as part of an omnibus appropriations package that will fund much of the government through September 30, 2009. Only 3 of 12 appropriations bills have been completed to date: defense, homeland security, and veterans affairs. At an earlier stage of the FY09 appropriations process, former President George W. Bush indicated that he would veto spending bills that exceeded his domestic discretionary spending caps. As a result, in order to advance desired increases, Congress decided to wait for a new administration to take office in order to closeout the FY09 appropriations process. The omnibus appropriations bill will contain an estimated $410 billion in spending for mostly domestic programs.

Congressional aides have indicated that the omnibus FY09 appropriations bill is not likely to contain significant changes from the draft created during the 110th (last) Congress. The omnibus package will increase government spending approximately 6.7% over the FY08 budget. For a recap of key health and education funding levels in the draft FY09 appropriations bills, see the budget section of this website or contact Jonathan in the UW Office of Federal Relations. The Office of Federal Relations will repost key FY09 appropriations figures as bill moves towards finalization. In a Tuesday speech to a joint-session of Congress and the nation, President Obama will provide some details on his FY10 budget request, which will be presented in outline form later this week and in full in the spring.

**UPDATE**

The House Appropriations Committee has released fact sheets on each of the remaining 9 FY09 spending bills (see below):

Omnibus FY09 Appropriations Bill (Conference Agreement)

Agriculture Approriations

Commerce/Justice/Science Appropriations

Energy and Water Appropriations

Financial Services Appropriations

Interior and the Environment Appropriations

Labor/Health/Education Appropriations

Legislative Branch Appropriations

State and Foreign Operations Appropriations

Transportation/Housing and Urban Development Appropriations

Below please find a link to estimated figures on funding to the state of Washington from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. According to the figures provided, the state of Washington will receive approximately $4.73 billion.

Recovery Act Funding for the State of Washington (click here)

Peter Orszag, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director, has issued guidance (see link below) to federal agency heads on how to implement use of funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The linked memorandum provides the first installment of government-wide guidance for carrying out programs and activities enacted in the legislation. As was explained by NIH Acting Director Raynard King in a briefing yesterday, the memo states that an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability will be required of those receiving funds from the Recovery Act.

The OMB guidance issued yesterday contains action steps that federal agencies must take immediately in order to meet these objectives and to implement the Act effectively. Of particular note, the guidance addresses federal agency requirements to provide spending and performance data to the “Recovery.gov” website. The guidance establishes requirements for various aspects of Recovery Act planning and implementation. These requirements are intended to meet accountability objectives:

• Funds are awarded and distributed in a prompt, fair, and reasonable manner;
• The recipients and uses of all funds are transparent to the public, and the benefits to the public are reported clearly, accurately, and in a timely manner;
• Funds are used for authorized purposes and instances of fraud, waste, error, and abuse are mitigated;
• Projects funded under this Act avoid unnecessary delays and cost overruns; and
• Program goals are achieved, including specific program outcomes and improved results on broader economic indicators.

Additional guidance providing further detail and covering a fuller range of items will be issued within the next 30-60 days. As individual agencies issue implementation guidance, the UW Office of Federal Relations will post details to this website.

OMB Recovery Act Guidance to Federal Agencies (click here)

The Association of American Universities (AAU) has prepared a grid (link below) that details the final higher education and research provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The grid breaks funding out by agency account, and also provides a comparison of the House and Senate bills that led to the final conference agreement. As has been mentioned, we will be soliciting information from the federal agencies on exactly which programs — within the accounts detailed — will be impacted by the funding provided in the package.

AAU Economic Recovery Package Funding Chart (click here)