The National Science Foundation has posted two new factsheets and a new report providing information on how CARES Act funding is being used to award RAPID Grants. The first awards were made last week.
COVID-19 Computing Power Factsheet.
Category: Budget
House Passes Second Supplemental
The House of Representatives held votes just after midnight on Saturday to pass a second supplemental appropriations bill to fund the American COVID-19 response.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, H.R. 6201, is bipartisan legislation resulting from negotiation between House Democrats and the White House. The bill guarantees free COVID-19 testing, paid emergency leave, and strengthens food security among other things. A summary can be found here.
The supplemental is with the Senate, which canceled its scheduled recess (district work period). The House is now in recess until March 23rd.
Federal Debt: A Primer
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which provides nonpartisan budgetary and economic analysis for Congress, released their report Federal Debt: A Primer. The report outlines how federal debt has nearly tripled between 2008-2019. Featured in the report is an explanation of public debt, facts and figures, and the CBO’s projections for future debt.
The Details Still Aren’t Pretty (Part 2)
We continue to look through the budget documents released yesterday.
National Science Foundation
As noted yesterday, AI research seems to fare well across the different agencies. While the Computer Science Directorate seems to be primary beneficiary of that initiative at NSF, other directorates within the Research and Related Activities (R&RA) account at the NSF are slated for cuts in the budget. In fact, NSF as an agency would receive a cut of 7 percent in FY2021. The total budget for R&RA would be funded at approximately $6.2 billion, a cut of more than $500 below the current appropriated amount.
DOD
With respect to DOD-sponsored research, the Science and Technology accounts, “6.1” through “6.3” accounts, would see an overall decrease of 13.5 percent below the current level. The Basic Research programs (“6.1” research) would be cut by nearly 11 percent.
DOE
The Office of Science at the Department of Energy would be cut by more than 17 percent while ARPA-E is slated for elimination.
Environmental Science Programs
Not surprisingly, programs in the environmental and climate science arenas would also see cuts.
For example, at the EPA, the Office of Science and Technology would be reduced by 32 percent. Within the USGS , the Administration has proposed eliminate the Cooperative Research Units and has proposed to fund the Climate Adaptation Science Centers at $9.78 million, which is currently funded at $38.3 million.
We will continue to provide further updates. It is important to keep in mind that the president’s budget being released is the start of a very long process, with Congress having the final say in how the funds are actually appropriated.
The Details Are Not Pretty (Part I)
The details of the President’s FY2021 budget requests for various agencies of interest to UW are not pretty. Let’s start with some of the details related student aid and higher education programs at the Education Department.
Programs Slated for Elimination
- Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (FSEOG)– Currently funded at $865 million
- GEAR UP– Currently funded at $365 million
- Title VI/ International Education Programs– Currently funded at $76 million
- Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN)– Currently funded at $23 million.
Other Education Department Proposals
- The Pell Grant maximum would remain at $6,345. The proposal seeks to fold the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant program into the Pell program.
- In addition to eliminating the SEOG program, the budget proposals also seeks to cut the Federal Work-Study program from $1.18 billion to $500 million while also changing the allocation formula.
- The president’s budget calls for turning the various TRIO programs into a single block grant program that would be administered by states. The proposal calls for the total funds for this new block grant to be cut from $1.09 billion to $950 million.
Student Loans
- On the loans front, all subsidized loans would be eliminated, meaning all federal student loans would become unsubsidized loans, including undergraduate loans. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program would be eliminated as well.
- The department proposes to consolidate five income-driven repayment (IDR) into a single IDR program, with the repayment rate set at 12.5 percent of discretionary income. The standard repayment cap would be repealed. For those borrowers with only undergraduate loan debt, the remaining balance would be forgiven after 180 months of repayment, while those with graduate debt would have their balances forgiven after 30 years of repayment.
- Loan limits would change under the budget proposal as well. It calls for Parent PLUS loan limits for undergraduate students to be set at $26,500. Graduate students would see their annual loan limits capped at $50,000 and the aggregate limits capped at $100,000 under this proposal.
- In addition, the Administration wants to study the idea of turning the Office of Federal Student Aid into a separate, non-governmental entity.
- The Administration also wants to explore the concept of requiring “postsecondary institutions that accept taxpayer funds to share in the financial responsibility associated with student loans.”
Institution of Education Sciences
The Administration proposes to cut IES by $58 million below the FY2020 level to $565 million for FY2021. Within its budget, it is calling for the elimination of both the Regional Education Laboratories and the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems.