Earlier this morning, the nomination of Monica Bertagnolli to head the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee by a bipartisan vote of 15 to 6. Bertagnolli, the current director of the National Cancer Institute, was nominated by President Biden earlier this year to take over the NIH, which has not had a permanent head since the retirement of Francis Collins.
Category: Committee Work
Sen. Appropriations Committee Finishes Its Work, Clears Last 4 Bills
By clearing the last four bills yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee has reported out all 12 spending bills for a fiscal year for the first time in five years. The committee reported out favorably yesterday the following FY2024 spending measures: Labor-HHS-Education; Defense; Interior and the Environment; and Homeland Security. Unlike the situation in the House, where the leadership had to pull the Agriculture spending bill from a floor vote because it lacked enough support even among the Republicans, the committee process in the Senate yesterday was very bipartisan. The Interior bill passed by a vote of 28 – 0, the Defense bill was approved 27 – 1, the Labor-HHS bill was adopted 26 – 2, and the vote was 24 – 4 on the Homeland Security legislation.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
- NIH
The Senate legislation would fund the National Institutes of Health at a total of $47.8 billion, an increase of $943 million above the current level. The total includes $1.5 billion for ARPA-H, which represents level funding under the Senate version of the bill. Within the NIH, the bill would increase, among other programs, mental health and Alzheimer’s research by $100 million each and while cancer research would see an increase of $60 million.
- Title VII Health Professions and Title VIII Nursing Programs
The legislation proposes to fund the Title VII Health Professions programs at a total of $529 million, an increase of $20 million.
At the same time, the Title VIII Nursing programs would see a total of $302.5 million, a $2-million increase over this year.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
- Student Aid and Higher Education
- Pell Grant– The maximum award would increase by $250 to $7,645
- SEOG– $900 million (a decrease of $10 million)
- Federal Work Study– $1.22 billion (a decrease of $10 million)
- International Education– $85.7 million (level funded)
- TRIO– $1.19 billion (level funded)
- GEAR UP– $338 million (level funded)
- GAANN– $23.5 million (level funded)
- Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
- IES would be funded at $793 million, a cut of $14.5 million
USGS
- Climate Adaptation Science Centers– $63.1 million (level funded)
- ShakeAlert– $29.6 million (level funded)
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
- $207 million (level funded)
Under the committee-approved bill, defense basic research would be see an increase of 10.5 percent for a total of $3.22 billion.
- Army basic research: $672.5 million (an increase of 5.8%)
- Navy basic research: $793.5 million (an increase of 15.2%)
- Air Force basic research: $711.9 million (an increase of 16.3%)
- Defense-wide basic research: $862.3 million (a decrease of 7.0%)
- DARPA: $4.1 billion (0.7% increase)
Both chambers are now in recess until after Labor Day.
FY2023 Spending Bills Set to Start Moving This Week
The FY2023 appropriations season is set to kick off this week in the House with a number of Appropriations subcommittees scheduled to take up their respective bills.
Of the bills set to be marked up this week, the defense bill is of the most interest. While the text of the bill has been published, the accompanying report, which contains the details about the measure, is not yet available. We will provide details about this, and other, appropriations measures as they become available.
House Passes Omnibus, FY22 Chart Now Available
Yesterday the House passed an omnibus appropriations package for FY22, following negotiations between House and Senate appropriators. The final package includes modest increases for key scientific and higher education accounts. The Senate is expected to vote on the package quickly to send it to the President’s desk. Current government funding is set to expire on Friday, so another short continuing resolution will be necessary to allow the Senate to clear procedural steps.
A chart tracking key accounts relevant to UW is available here. Our office will post detailed updates as information becomes available. We will also discuss appropriations in more detail during our town hall on March 24th at noon PT (register here).
2022 Federal Agenda Now Live
The University of Washington has published our 2022 Federal Agenda reaffirming our commitment to a robust partnership with the federal government. You can view the agenda here.
On March 24th at 12pm PT, Director of Federal Relations Sarah Castro will participate in a Town Hall highlighting the key elements of our federal agenda. Members of the UW community can register here.