Members of Washington Delegation to Assume New Leadership Roles

Posted on December 12, 2018

The Democratic Steering and Policy Committee in the House released yesterday its slate of recommendations for most committee chair positions for next Congress. As expected, the committee has recommended that Rep. Adam Smith, representing the Ninth Congressional District of Washington and the current top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, take over the position of Chairman when the Democrats assume control of the chamber in January.

The Senate Democrats also released yesterday their committee leadership roster for next Congress. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, currently the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will give up that post to assume the top Democratic slot on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. Sen. Patty Murray will remain as the Ranking Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

New Democratic Chairs to Helm House Committees

Posted on November 12, 2018

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 9^th 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 14^th 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 116^th Congress.

OSTP Nominee Confirmed by Senate Committee

Posted on September 6, 2018September 6, 2018

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

Posted on May 17, 2018

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

Posted on May 16, 2018

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.