Today in DC

Posted on March 29, 2012October 17, 2012

The House is expected to adopt the FY 2013 GOP budget plan, which would set up a conflict with the Senate over appropriations spending levels. That chamber also plans a vote on a three-month highway bill extension, days before funding for transportation programs expires.

The Senate votes on a motion to invoke cloture on an oil and gas tax preference repeal measure and resumes consideration of its bill on tax rates for high-income earners.

If both chambers can agree on the transportation extension, they will likely leave town this afternoon to begin their 2-week recess period.

In other action in DC, the Supreme Court has concluded oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. They will now diliberate behind closed doors and offer their ruling sometime in June.

House Budget Proposes Additional Cuts to FY 2013

Posted on March 22, 2012October 17, 2012

The House Budget Committee approved its FY 2013 budget resolution late last night. This resolution, a blueprint developed by Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), will now go to the House floor where it is expected to gain strong support from most Republicans and fierce opposition from Democrats. The plan would set discretionary spending in FY 2013 at $1.028 trillion, which is $19 billion less than the $1.047 trillion spending cap outlined in the debt limit agreement (Budget Control Act) approved last August. To find the extra saving, the measure directs six authorizing committees to find more than $200 billion in mandatory savings over a 10-year period. The savings would be packaged together and moved through the House using the budget reconciliation process, although the move will almost certainly be unsuccessful since reconciliation requires that the Senate and House agree to the same budget plan.

The budget resolution will be considered on the House floor next week, the last week of work before a two-week congressional recess period.

FY 2013 Budget & Appropriations this Week

Posted on March 19, 2012October 17, 2012

Budget: With the House in recess last week, work continued behind the scenes to draft the FY 2013 budget resolution which is expected to be marked up this week. This budget resolution is likely to propose deeper spending cuts in an effort to balance the budget more quickly. Conservatives have been pushing to get the discretionary limit down to $931 billion, more than $100 billion below the $1.047 trillion discretionary spending cap in the Budget Control Act (PL 112-25). The resolution may also include provisions aimed at limiting the impact of sequestration, the automatic spending cuts scheduled to begin in January of 2013 that would result in just under $100 billion in defense and non-defense discretionary spending reductions. Any effort to address sequestration through this budget resolution or subsequent legislation will likely come down to a tug-of-war between protection of defense spending vs. protection of entitlements.

Appropriations: Appropriators in both chambers will hear from a series of Cabinet officials and agency leaders throughout the week, continuing a busy schedule of hearings that have touched on the administration’s FY 2013 budget request as well as its policies. Among the officials set to testify before Appropriations subcommittees this week are U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan E. Rice, Commerce Secretary John Bryson, Small Business Administration Administrator Karen G. Mills, National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr., Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

This Week in DC

Posted on February 27, 2012October 17, 2012

Budget

The House Budget Committee will mark up its FY13 budget resolution by the third week of March, with Republican leaders hoping to have it adopted by the end of the month. The House plan is expected to propose discretionary spending for FY13 that is lower than the $1.047 trillion level set by last August’s Budget Control Act (PL 112-25). The Senate Budget Committee, meanwhile, will try to draft a resolution by early April that offers a plan for long-term deficit reduction based on the work of earlier bipartisan fiscal commissions. Senate Democratic leaders have said the resolution will not come to the floor and that they intend to adhere to the caps set by the Budget Control Act as they write their FY13 appropriations bills.

Appropriations

Member of President Obama’s Cabinet and other agency officials will be on Capitol Hill throughout the week to defend the policy decisions and spending priorities contained in their FY13 budget requests. Among the officials set to appear before Appropriations committees this week are Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Attorney General Eric Holder, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

President Michael Young in DC

President Young will be in DC to deliver the UW’s FY13 Federal Legislative Agenda to the Washington state Congressional Delegation. That agenda recognizes the constrained federal resources while maintaining a strategic focus on those initiatives, programs, and projects that will contribute to a sustainable and competitive future for the UW, the state, and the nation. Specifically, our agenda calls on Congress to make continued, targeted investments in federal student aid and research.

Congress in Recess this Week

Posted on February 20, 2012October 17, 2012

Congress is in recess this week for President’s Day and will return to the Capitol next week – the same week that UW President Michael Young will be in DC for his annual visit to the Washington State Congressional Delegation. Last Monday, the President submitted his FY13 budget to Congress. Next week, President Young will submit the University’s FY13 Federal Legislative Agenda to the delegation. I will provide a full report after these meetings so stay tuned!

Now back to the President’s Budget Request (PBR). The overall budget request is $3.8 trillion, which takes into account the $1.047 trillion cap on domestic spending as agreed to in the Budget Control Act (approved last August to deal with deficit reduction and raising the debt ceiling). Included in this overall number is $64 billion for basic and applied research, a 3.3 percent increase from FY12 enacted levels. The request includes increases for most basic research accounts, including those at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of Defense (DoD). The National Institutes of Health (NIH), however, remains level funded and NASA’s Science Directorate is reduced. The majority of smaller research agencies (e.g., National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, USGS, and others) receive increases from FY12.

One thing to keep in mind about the PBR is that this is a very political document – especially in an election year. In addition to outlining the President’s spending priorities, it also includes a number of controversial proposals to pay for that spending (particularly regarding taxes). This will be a tough sell to Congress. While the appropriations process began in earnest this past week, it is highly unlikely that this budget request will be anywhere close to realized before the election in November. Instead, the House and Senate budget writers and appropriators will outline their own spending priorities with only minor acknowledgment of the PBR.

Read more about the PBR here or contact the Office of Federal Relations to receive our most recent Federal Update (2/15/12) on this topic.