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Category: Committee Work

New Democratic Chairs to Helm House Committees

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As a result of the November elections, Democrats will assume the chairs of committees in the House when the new Congress convenes in 2019.

At the macro level, we can expect the Democrats to hold oversight hearings on myriad issues and activities related to the Trump Administration with respect to both policies and politics.  Individually, the soon-to-be chairs of the committees, all of whom are seasoned Members, will have different priorities that they plan to emphasize.  Earlier this year, Politico profiled a number of the Democrats likely to lead the panels after the switch in control.  A shorter synopsis of the new chairs’ backgrounds and their interests is provided below.

Appropriations

Nita Lowey, representing the suburbs of New York City, is expected to take over as the first woman to chair the Appropriations Committee.  First elected to Congress in 1988, she has been a tremendous champion of domestic programs.

She has served in the past as the lead Democrat on the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee, which is responsible for funding biomedical and student aid programs.  She has made funding NIH a priority in the past.

Armed Services

Adam Smith, representing the 9th Congress District of Washington and one of UW’s biggest backers, is slated to take over the chairmanship of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC).

A UW alum, he was first elected to Congress in 1996 and has served as Ranking Member on since 2011.

Education and the Workforce

Bobby Scott, who will be in his 14th term from the Newport News area of Virginia, will become the new chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee.

As chair, he will drive much of the agenda related to higher education, including the possible reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.  He will look to push back against much of the Trump Administration’s attempts to roll back consumer protections with respect to the for-profit institutions and well the proposed changes to Title IX and other civil rights issues.  The House Democrats’ HEA bill introduced earlier this year, the Aim Higher Act,  will likely serve as the starting point for HEA reauthorization.

Energy and Commerce

The Energy and Commerce has a big portfolio in terms of legislative jurisdiction, including health care.  Frank Pallone of New Jersey is expected to assume the chairmanship of the committee.

Pallone helped draft the Affordable Care Act in 2009 and 2010.  Possible changes to the ACA and other health care policies will have to go through his committee.

Homeland Security

Bennie Thompson of Mississippi is slated to take over as the chair of the Homeland Security Committee.

As the name states, the committee has jurisdiction over, among other issues, the Department of Homeland Security and its various agencies, including those responsible for immigration matters.  We should expect to a flurry of activities around the Administration’s immigration policies and practices.

Judiciary

The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to be taken over by Lowey’s fellow New Yorker Jerrold Nadler.

First elected in 1992, we should expect to see the committee take on the Administration on host of high profile issues, including immigration, gay and LGBTQ rights, and voting rights, just to name a few.

Oversight and Government Reform

Elijah Cummings of Baltimore will helm the Oversight and Government Reform panel.

This committee’s jurisdiction is broad and we should expect myriad subpoenas from and hearings in front of it on a host of matters related to the operation of the government which Democrats believe have not been adequately addressed by the House Republicans.

Ways and Means

The Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over tax matters but other issues of interest to UW as well, such as healthcare.  Much of the debate during this current Congress (which wraps up at the end of the year) on the tax bill and the ACA repeal took place in this committee.

Its next chairman, Richard Neal of Massachusetts, has been a member of the panel for 25 year.  Changes to healthcare and possible changes to the tax code will have to go through Chairman Neal and his Democratic colleagues in the 116th Congress.

 

OSTP Nominee Confirmed by Senate Committee

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The scientist nominated by President Trump to head the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Kelvin Droegemeier, was approved yesterday by the Senate Commerce Committee.  Droegemeier, currently Vice President for Research at the University of Oklahoma, was tapped to head the office in August.  A severe weather scientist, he was a member of the National Science Board under both the Bush and Obama administrations.

Read more about him and the nomination here and here.

 

CJS Appropriations Bill Clears House Committee

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The House Appropriations Committee approved this afternoon by a vote of 32 to 19 the FY2019 Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Bill.  As noted previously, the bill funds a number of agencies of interest to the university, including, but not limited to, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and NOAA.  During the committee markup, an amendment was offered, and then withdrawn, by Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) that would have restored $60 million to the Competitive Research program for Climate Research at NOAA.

The bill now heads to the House floor for consideration by the entire chamber.

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Begin to Move

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With the FY2019 set to start October 1, the appropriations bills for the year have begun to move through Congress, with the House Appropriations Committee taking up a number of bills the past several days.

The subcommittee that oversees the Commerce-Justice-Science bill, which funds various agencies and programs of interest to the university– such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and NOAA– cleared its bill last week and the measure is slated for full Appropriations Committee consideration tomorrow.

The subcommittee-approved version of the bill would fund NSF at $8.17 billion, an increase of approximately $400 million.  Within the agency, the Research and Related Activities account would receive $6.65 billion, an increase of $317 million above the current level.  The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account would be funded at $268 million under this version of the legislation, of which $123.8 million would be dedicated to the construction of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

Under the bill, the Space Grant Program at NASA would be level funded at $40 million in FY2019.

Within NOAA, the Integrated Ocean Observing System would see a slight increase to $37.5 million.  The bill would appropriate $68.5 million to the Sea Grant Program while separately funding the Marine Aquaculture program at $11.5 million.

The legislation also funds the various NOAA Cooperative Institutes (CIs).  Climate research CIs would be funded at $73.0 million in FY2019, compared to $60 million this year.  However, the bill would also eliminate the Competitive Research, Sustained Observation, and Regional Information Program in the broader Climate Research account at NOAA.

Additional details about the bill are available here.

The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee cleared its funding bill last night, sending it to the full committee for its consideration in the near future.  While most of the details about the bill are not yet available, it would fund the Earthquake Early Warning system at $21 million in FY2019.  Office of Federal Relations will provide additional details about this and other bills as they become available.

Across the Capitol, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) announced that his committee will move on its bills starting next week.

Text of FY2018 Omnibus Released

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The House Appropriations Committee has released text of the fiscal year 2018 omnibus spending bill. The House could vote as early as Thursday on the package. The House Rules Committee is expected to meet Wednesday night to report the bill to the floor for debate and a vote. The House typically observes a three-day rule before considering any legislation, but the House is expected waive to that provision and vote as early as Thursday.

After the House votes, the measure will be ready for Senate action, which must happen Friday, before current stopgap spending (PL 115-123) expires Friday.

The 2,232-page measure will be added as an amendment to an unrelated bill (HR 1625).

Failure to approve the measure by midnight Friday, without passing another stopgap in its place, would lead to another partial shutdown just before lawmakers were scheduled to depart for a two-week recess.

The text of the legislation can be found here. 

Federal Relations is reviewing the measure and will provide updates.

Current known highlights include:

National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funded at $37 billion (an increase of $3 billion above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level). Within the total, the legislation includes $300 million for the Cancer Moonshot and $12.6 million for the Gabriella Miller “Kids First” pediatric cancer research initiative. The bill supports a new multi-year Down syndrome research initiative that will expand NIH support for research on Trisomy 21 and related diseases and disorders. The bill also includes a provision requiring NIH to continue reimbursing grantee research institutions for facilities and administrative costs.

  • $1.8 billion (+$414 million) for Alzheimer’s disease research,
  • $400 million (+$140 million) for the Brain Research through Application of Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative,
  • $290 million (+$60 million) for the All of Us research initiative (formerly called the Precision Medicine Initiative),
  • $10 million (+$8 million) for regenerative medicine research,
  • $100 million (+$40 million) for research to develop a universal flu vaccine,
  • $351 million (+17 million) for research on combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria,
  • $543 million (+27 million) for Clinical and Translational Science Awards, and
  • $351 million (+$17 million) for Institutional Development Awards (IDeA)

CDC is funded at $8.3 billion (an increase of $1.1 billion above the fiscal year 2017 level). Funding within the CDC includes $1.45 billion for CDC’s Public Health Preparedness and Response programs – an increase of $45 million. This will ensure that the Strategic National Stockpile and State and Local Preparedness capacity are adequate.

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is funded at $7 billion ($550 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level).

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is funded $334 million ($10 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level).

Department of Education is funded at $70.9 billion ($2.6 billion above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level). The maximum Pell Grant award is increased to $6,095, funded by a combination of discretionary and mandatory funds. TRIO and GEAR UP programs are increased by $60 million and $10 million, respectively, bringing TRIO programs to a total of $1.01 billion and GEAR UP to a total of $350 million.

NSF is funded at $7.8 billion ($295 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level). Research and related activities are funded at $6.3 billion ($301 million above the current level).

NASA is funded at $20.7 billion, $1.1 billion above the 2017 enacted level, including $4.8 billion for Exploration ($466 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level) and $6.2 billion for NASA Science programs ($457 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level).

NOAA is funded at $5.9 billion ($234 million above the fiscal year 2017 level).

EPA funding is frozen at the fiscal year 2017 enacted level of $8.1 billion. Within this total, EPA’s regulatory programs are reduced by $23.5 million below the current level. EPA’s staffing levels have been reduced by 650 positions over the last year, and are presently at 14,172 positions. Overall staffing has been reduced by 3,106 positions since fiscal year 2010.

USGS receives $1.1 billion for the USGS ($63 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level). Funding is targeted to critical infrastructure investments in natural hazards programs, streamgages, the groundwater monitoring network, and mapping activities. The bill includes $23 million for an earthquake early warning system to help save lives during natural disasters, and $26 million to fully fund the development of “Landsat 9” – a satellite program that provides land use measurements that are important to local communities for agriculture, forestry, energy and water resource decisions.