House Passes Largely Symbolic FY11 Budget

Posted on February 21, 2011October 17, 2012

Early Saturday morning, the House of Representatives passed a spending plan (H.R. 1) for the remainder of fiscal year 2011. The legislation would sharply reduce spending across the spectrum of government, including within research and student aid agencies. The measure passed despite unanimous Democratic opposition joined by three Republican votes against. The House vote sets up a budget showdown with the Senate and White House, which have already stated their opposition. Steps forward will need to take place by March 4^th, when current funding for the government expires.

The House considered and adopted a number of amendments of interest:

#214: John Kline (R-MN)—Prevents Education Department from implementing “Gainful Employment” regulation (289 to 136, 1 voted “present)
#267: Steve King (R-IA)—Prohibits use of funds from CR to carry out provisions of the health care law. There may be an impact on student aid provisions contained in the law (241 to 187)
#233: Ralph Hall (R-TX)—Prohibits use of funds to establish a NOAA Climate Service (233 to 187)

Chairman’s Statement and Successful Amendments

President Issues Veto Threat on House FY11 Budget

Posted on February 16, 2011October 17, 2012

Yesterday, Preisident Obama issued a veto threat on the spending proposal (H.R. 1) that is advancing in the House to cut $100 billion from the FY11 request. As widely reported, H.R. 1 would result in severe reductions for nearly all agencies -including those that provide research and student aid support. The Statement of Administration Policy reads:

“The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 1, making appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other departments and agencies of the Government for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes. The Administration is committed to cutting spending and reducing the deficit so that current government spending does not add to the debt and has put forward a plan to do just that. However, the Administration does not support deep cuts that will undermine our ability to out-educate, out-build, and out-innovate the rest of the world. The bill proposes cuts that would sharply undermine core government functions and investments key to economic growth and job creation, and would reduce funding for the Department of Defense to a level that would leave the Department without the resources and flexibility needed to meet vital military requirements. If the President is presented with a bill that undermines critical priorities or national security through funding levels or restrictions, contains earmarks, or curtails the drivers of long-term economic growth and job creation while continuing to burden future generations with deficits, the President will veto the bill.

The Administration looks forward to working with the Congress to refine the legislation to allow critical government functions to operate without interruption for the remainder of the fiscal year underway.”

President’s FY12 Budget Request

Posted on February 14, 2011October 17, 2012

Today, President Obama released a $3.73 trillion budget request for FY12. The White House estimates that the request and projections for spending in the out-years would reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. Despite reductions in overall spending, the request contains significant increases for research and development as well as some education programs.

National Institutes of Health– $31.8 billion, an increase of 3.3% over the FY10 level of $30.8 billion

White House/Office of Management and Budget HHS FY12 Budget Summary

National Science Foundation– $7.77 billion, an increase of 13% over the FY10 level of $6.87 billion –keeping the agency on track for a 10-year (FY08-FY17) doubling that is authorized in last year’s America COMPETES Act

NSF FY12 Budget Materials

Department of Energy, Office of Science– $5.4 billion, an increase of 10.2% over the FY10 level of $4.9 billion –keeping the agency on track for a 10-year (FY08-FY17) doubling that is authorized in last year’s America COMPETES Act. $550 million is also included for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to continue support for the promising early-stage research projects that could deliver game-changing clean energy technologies.

DoE FY12 Budget Materials

Department of Defense, Science and Technology– $12.2 billion for science and technology programs, which includes a 2% real growth in basic research

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency– $5.5 billion, an increase of 14.3% over the FY10 level of $4.85 billion

White House/Office of Management and Budget Department of Commerce FY12 Budget Summary

Department of Education–

Continues support for a $5,550 maximum Pell Grant award, $819 above the level in 2008, largely paid for by eliminating the year-round Pell Grant and the in-school interest subsidy for graduate and professional student loans
Invests $26.8 billion, an increase of 6.9 percent, in a reformed Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) focused on raising standards, encouraging innovation, and rewarding success, while allowing States and districts more flexibility to invest resources where they will have the greatest impact. The new ESEA directs funds to reform-oriented competitive initiatives, consolidates dozens of programs, and cuts programs that do not demand results.
Provides $1.4 billion for new competitions, modeled on the Race to the Top initiative, to strengthen and reform early childhood education, improve district performance in elementary and secondary education, and improve outcomes in higher education

Department of Education FY12 Budget Materials

National Endowment for the Humanities– $146 million, a decrease of 13% from the FY10 level of $168 million

NEH FY12 Budget Summary

Additional information on President Obama’s FY12 budget request will be posted as it becomes available. The release of the President’s Budget Request (PBR) is the first step in appropriations process for the coming year. After Congress and the President settle on a path forward for FY11 — which began on October 1, 2010 — the FY12 process will begin to move forward.

House Proposes Deep FY11 Cuts, President Looks to FY12

Posted on February 14, 2011October 17, 2012

The leadership of the House of Representatives has come forward with a second version of proposed cuts for fiscal year 2011. The new continuing resolution (CR) proposal is in response to criticism from deficit hawks within the Republican caucus who seek to fulfill a 2010 promise to reduce federal spending by $100 billion from what the President has put forward. The proposed CR cuts would be particularly significant, given that they would be spread over the remaining 7 months of FY11 as opposed to over an entire fiscal year. The House proposal cuts nearly all federal research agencies including: NIH, NSF, and DoE Office of Science. Additionally, Pell Grant levels would see a reduction of approximately 15%.

Details on select agencies/programs within House FY11 proposal:

National Institutes of Health- NIH would be cut by $1.63 billion, or 5.3%, below the FY10 level of $31.01 billion.

National Science Foundation- NSF would be cut by $359.5 million, or 5.2%, below the FY10 level of $6.87 billion. The proposal appropriates $5.4 billion for Research and Related Activities, which is $150 million, or 2.7%, below the FY 10 level. For Education and Human Resources, the bill appropriates $725.7 million, which is $147 million, or 16.4%, below the FY 10 funding level. For Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC), the CR appropriates $54 million, which is $63 million, or 53%, below the FY10 level. The MREFC account funds the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) that UW partners on. OOI represents the largest single federal award to the UW.

Department of Energy- DOE’s Office of Science would be funded at $4.02 billion, representing a cut of $886 million, or 18%, from the FY10 funding level of $4.90 billion. $50 million is included to sustain the new Advanced Research Projects Agency -Energy.

National Institute of Standards and Technology- NIST would see a reduction in its overall budget of $159.5 million, or 19%, from its FY 2010 funding level of $856.6 million. The university facilities construction account within NIST is eliminated.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration- NASA would be cut by $578.7 million, or 3.1%, below the FY10 amount of $18.7 billion. However, NASA Science would receive $4.4 billion, Aeronautics $501 million, and Education $182 million – all the same as FY10.

Department of Education- Funding is not included in the House proposal to fill the Pell Grant shortfall, which means a cut of $845 from the discretionary maximum grant of $4,860 down to $4,015. With the mandatory funding, the maximum grant would total $4,705, compared to the current maximum grant for the academic year 2011-12 of $5,550. The proposal cuts funding for TRIO and GEAR UP by $24.9 million and $19.8 million, respectively, to below their FY08 levels. In addition, the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) program for undergraduates with exceptional financial need was proposed for elimination, as was the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) Program that establishes a federal-state partnership to provide financial assistance in the form of grants to students who have demonstrated financial need.

National Endowment for the Humanities- NEH would be cut by $22 million, from its FY10 level of $167 million to $145 million, a reduction of 13.2%.

A vigorous defense of investments in these programs is taking place in Washington, DC. The Senate and President are expected to challenge the House proposal. Meanwhile, today, President Obama released his FY12 budget request. Although the request makes cuts to federal spending, increases to several research agencies are included within the proposal as well as well as a reorganization of the Pell Grant program that would keep the current maximum award level of $5,550. The President’s budget request largely assumes level funding for FY11, which at this juncture, is probably a best case scenario. Additional details on the FY12 budget request will be provided shortly.

House Appropriations Releases List of Proposed Reductions

Posted on February 9, 2011October 17, 2012

Today, the House Appropriations Committee released a list of 70 agencies/programs targeted for reductions from the President’s FY11 budget request. The list contains several agencies of importance to the higher education community, including:

National Institutes of Health: $1 billion below President’s request (level-funded when compared to FY2010)
National Science Foundation: $139 million below President’s request (an increase of approximately $360 million over FY2010)
Department of Energy, Office of Science: $1.1 billion below President’s request (approximately $900 below FY2010)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: $336 million below President’s request (an increase of $481 million above FY2010)
U.S. Geological Survey: $27 million below President’s request (level funded when compared to FY2010)
National Endowment for the Humanities: $6 million below President’s request each ($14 million below FY2010)
DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: $899 million below President’s request
Agricultural Research: $246 million below President’s request

The cuts proposed by the House will eventually need to be reconciled with figures put forward in the Senate. As a result, the closeout of the FY11 appropriations process remains fluid.

Full List of House Appropriations’ Proposed Reductions