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.
President Biden confirmed his intention to nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson, of DC, to be an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. She will replace retiring Justice Breyer.
The Senate is expected to move quickly on her confirmation process once the nomination is received, adding to an already busy 2022 agenda.
The House passed on a bipartisan basis yesterday another short-term continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government open past the current deadline of midnight, February 19. The Senate is expected to follow suit.
While a number of issues have created problems with respect to the completion of funding bills for FY2022 — which started October 1– one of the biggest hurdles has been the inability of the two parties to come to an agreement on “top line” numbers, the overall funding levels for both defense and non-defense programs. The passage of another short-term CR allows the various negotiators to continue conversations without risking a government shutdown in less than two weeks. The CR that was agreed to by the House last evening would keep the government funded through March 11.
Read more about the situation here.
The House passed the America COMPETES Act of 2022 (H.R. 4521) on a nearly party-line vote. The bill has a broad focus attempting to tackle research, climate, supply chain, education, and immigration issues. As it stands, the legislation reauthorizes the NSF and key components of the Department of Energy, invests in semiconductor chips production, and contains diplomatic, research security, and immigration provisions. Several amendments were adopted, and the bill will need to be conferenced with the bipartisan US Innovation and Competition Act (USICA, S. 1260). You can find a fact sheet here.
The Office of Federal Relations will host a virtual town hall for the campus community on Thursday, March 24th from 12pm-1pm PT. Our staff will provide an update on the federal budget, infrastructure and competitiveness bills, and preview the UW’s 2022 federal agenda. This will be followed by an opportunity for Q&A. Register here (NetID restricted).