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Category: Environmental Research & Sustainability

White House Memo on Science Priorities for FY2017

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The White House’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shaun Donovan, and OSTP Director, John Holdren, sent their annual joint FY2017 priorities memo to the science agency heads.

The memo urges agency leaders to take the priorities into consideration as they begin to prepare their FY2017 budget proposals for OMB.  Per the memo, “Agency proposals aligned with multi-agency R&D priorities and demonstrating interagency coordination are more likely to be prioritized in FY2017 Budget deliberations.”

Read the memorandum here.

 

 

OMB Writes Letter of Concern about Senate FY16 CJS

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The White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan has issued another letter on the FY16 appropriations proposal currently working their way though Congress. Today, Director Donovan’s letter was addressed to the Senate and expressed concern over the Senate’s FY16 CJS spending bill.  The letter outlines concerns about underfunding the important investments in a diverse set of agencies and programs (from science agencies like NSF and NOAA to law enforcement as well as the census)  and includes highly problematic ideological riders. Over all the letter echo previously seen concerns about Congress crafting these bills in accordance to sequestration funding limitations, while not working on a FY16 budget that would supplant the sequester.

Specically, the letter outlines concerns for maintaining our nation’s ability and capacity at science-focused agencies.

  • The bill cuts the President’s Budget by $245 million, or 64 percent, for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) next generation ofpolar-orbiting weather satellites which puts the continuity of the polar weather observations at substantial risk.
  • The bill underfunds the National Science Foundation, providing $380 million, or 5 percent, less than the President’s Budget for an agency that carries a major share of the Federal Government’s responsibility to support basic research in science and engineering-research that produces the seed com on which future innovation depends, but by its nature is too uncertain in ultimate application to attract private-sector funding. Compared to the President’s Budget, the bill would lead to about 700 fewer research grants, affecting about 9,100 researchers, technicians, and students.

Read the OMB letter here. 

White House Issues Veto Threat on House’s FY16 House Interior and OMB Letter on FY16 Labor-H Appropriations Bill

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As discussed yesterday, the House’s FY16 Interior appropriations bill contained significant cuts and policy riders which would be of serious concern to the White House. Accordingly, the White House has issued a Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP) about the House’s draft bill, which includes a veto threat. Additionally, the OMB Director Donovan wrote a letter on the House’s FY16 Labor-H appropriations bill outlining the Administration’s concerns.

This not the first veto threat offered by the administration this year (see here and here). Both SAPs for the House’s FY16 Interior and FY16 Labor-H measures cite the conformance to Sequestration levels of funding as an overarching reason to veto the measures, which has been a reoccurring theme all year.

The SAP on the FY16 Interior bill cites the drastically underfunded core Department of the Interior programs as well as the Environmental Protection Agency’s operating budget. Additionally, the SAP states concerns with “the numerous highly problematic ideological provisions that have no place in funding legislation. These provisions threaten to undermine the ability of States and communities to address climate change and protect a resource that is essential to America’s health—clean water, as well as the most basic protections for America’s special places and the people and wildlife that rely on them.

Additionally, the Administration raises concerns with the numerous policy riders including: blocking the Department of the Interior’s proposed fracking regulations; preventing the implementation of the National Ocean Policy; prohibit funding for the EPA to impose new Green House Gas standards; prevent the EPA from continuing work to implement the 2008 Lead Renovating and Repairing rule until the EPA develops a commercially available “improved” lead paint test kit; and allow the use of lead ammunition in the hunting of migratory waterfowl on public lands.

Finally, the SAP raise separation of powers concerns with the bill due to the policy provisions.

The OMB letter on the FY16 Labor-H bill cites the cuts and restrictions to the Affordable Care Act, the cuts to programs like Head Start, the $6.7 billion cut to the Department of Ed (from the PBR’s proposal), and the effective $370 million cut to Pell. The SAP says in part:

“Through a combination of funding cuts and ideologically-motivated restrictions, the Subcommittee bill would obstruct the functioning of the Health Insurance Marketplaces, jeopardizing or disrupting coverage for the more than 10 million people currently enrolled in health insurance plans through the Marketplaces. It would also deny assistance to States expanding their Medicaid programs under the ACA, jeopardizing coverage for many millions more.

– and –

“This bill includes a $370 million cut to the Pell Grant program, which will make it more difficult to help students pay for college over the next decade. It also cuts funding for administering and overseeing the student aid programs by $136 million, or roughly 9 percent, below the President’s request, hurting the Department of Education’s ability to hold the approximately 6,500 colleges and universities that receive Federal dollars accountable to students and taxpayers and ensure that all students have access to high­ quality loan servicing.”

Additionally the letter cites concerns about the elimination of Title X family planning funds, cuts to the Social Security Administration, and cuts to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) which procures new medical countermeasures to protect against potential chemical; biological, radiological and nuclear attacks. Finally, the Administration is concerned about the numerous policy riders including the prevention of the ED from implementing the Gainful Employment regulations as well as the host of riders designed to defund and effectively kill the ACA.

 

 

OMB Signals Concerns on House FY16 Interior Bill

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Due to be marked up today, the White House signaled concerns to House Appropriators about their $30.2 billion FY16 Interior-Environment spending bill. Office of Management and Budget (OMB)  Director Shaun Donovan criticized the measure for the proposed cuts to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as riders to block implementation of various air and water rules.

The Interior-Environment appropriations bill funds the EPA, U.S. Forest Service, Interior Department, the Smithsonian, and Indian Health Service. Donovan criticized the measure for its “misplaced priorities” and funding levels that fall 9 percent below the President’s request as well as cuts to the Indian Health Service and Interior’s climate resilience, land management and conservation efforts.

This letter from Donovan is not the first effort the Administration has used to signal displeasure with House Appropriations bills. Donovan wrote similar letter about the House CJS measure, and the White House has issued veto threats on the NDAA and House Defense appropriations bills.

Read the OMB letter to House Appropriations here. 

Senate Appropriations Clears Defense, CJS and Leg Branch

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The full Senate Appropriations Committee approved three bills now ready for consideration by the whole Senate. The FY16 Defense, Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS), and Legislative Affairs appropriations bills were all approved today.

The the FY2016 Defense appropriations bill was approved on a bipartisan 27-3 vote. The bill recommends $489.1 billion in base funding and $86.8 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations funding, consistent with the FY2016 budget resolution.  The bill adds $228.5 million to basic (non-medical) research for the Army, Navy, Air Force and DoD, a 1.7 percent increase over FY2015 levels. The bill also increases DoD core medical research budget as well as congressionally-directed medical research funding by $835.5 million, including $278.7 million for the competitively awarded peer-reviewed medical research program and $177.3 million for the Department to advance its own medical research priorities.

Finally, the bill transfers $36.5 billion from base operation and maintenance accounts to OCO in order to meet the overall defense funding levels requested by the President while avoiding sequestration by breaching the Budget Control Act caps. A similar move was used by the House for both the NDAA and the House’s FY16 Defense appropriations bill. Both proposals garnered a veto threat by the White House.

The FY2016 CJS Appropriations Bill, which provides funding for the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Justice, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other related agencies, was approved on a bipartisan 27-3 vote.