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Category: Student Aid

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.

 

 

Shut Down Likely

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At midnight tonight, the Continuing Resolution passed in December 2017 will expire. Presently, it does not look like Congress will be able to agree on a short or long term funding solution, and a shutdown is highly likely.

Agencies are circulating memos advising staff how to proceed in the high likelihood there is a shutdown and nonessential federal employees will be furloughed without pay.

OMB has just released a memorandum – Planning for Agency Operations during a Potential Lapse in Appropriations – that includes FAQs regarding grants and contracts (Section II, pages 3-9).

The University of Washington leadership has developed information as to impacts of a shutdown, which will occur in three major areas: research funding, student aid, and Medicare and Medicaid payments. Those impacts can be found here. 

If the federal government does shut down, significant impacts will not be immediately felt by the UW community. Initial impacts will be felt by those in the research community needing to communicate with the federal enterprise such as researchers needing engagement or approval from program managers or researchers applying for grants.  Impacts will be magnified if a shut down is prolonged and goes for multiple weeks.

The University does a plan in place to have adequate cash on hand from existing accounts to cover anticipated expenditures in the event of delayed federal reimbursement. We estimate that we could go at least one month, possibly more, before layoffs or contract suspensions would be initiated.

To follow developments on budget negotiations minute to minute, the Washington Post is counting down the time to midnight.

The Federal Relations team is continuing to monitor the situation and will continue to provide updates.

House Committee Clears HEA Reauthorization Bill

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In a marathon markup session that lasted well into the evening, the House Education and the Workforce Committee cleared yesterday the PROSPER Act (H.R. 4508), its version of the bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA), by a vote 23 to 17.  A copy of the bill is available here.

During the session, approximately 60 amendments were considered.  A write-up of the markup session is available here.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has not yet moved its version of the HEA reauthorization bill.

 

ED’s COO of Finanical Aid Quits

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Tuesday night, James Runcie, chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid, quit \over what he said were simmering management problems at the agency that culminated in a dispute with DeVos over her insistence that he testify Wednesday before a congressional oversight panel.

Politico has the story. 

Student Loan Rates to Increase

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The cost of borrowing money from the federal government to pay for college will increase in the coming academic year.

The interest rates on new federal student loans are set to jump by more than two-thirds of a percentage point following the U.S. Treasury Department’s sale today of 10-year notes, which is the government security to which the rates are tied.

For new undergraduate student loans, the interest rate will increase to 4.45 percent, up from 3.76 percent.

The rate on direct loans for graduate students will rise to 6 percent from this year’s 5.31 percent.

And the interest rates on federal PLUS loans — both for graduate students or parents paying for their children’s education — will be 7 percent, up from the current 6.31 percent.

The new interest rates take effect on July 1 for the 2017-18 school year and are fixed for the lifetime of the loan. The changes today do not affect borrowers who already have federal student loans.