Appropriations Work Continues in House This Week

Posted on June 17, 2019

The House is scheduled to continue its appropriations work on the floor this week.

When it reconvenes on Tuesday, the House is expected to resume its debate on the first package of spending bills for FY2020, one that is made up of the Labor-HHS-Education, Defense, Energy and Water, and State-Foreign Operations bills.

After completing work on this set of bills, the chamber is scheduled to take up a five-bill vehicle, consisting of the following measures: Commerce-Justice-Science; Agriculture; Interior and Environment; Military Construction-Veterans Affairs; and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development.

The Senate has yet to move on any of its bills, hoping to reach a deal on top-line spending limits first. If no deal is reached soon, the Senate Appropriations Committee may also move on its own, hoping to reach a compromise with the House and the Administration later in the legislative process.

First Spending Package Ready for Floor Action

Posted on June 12, 2019

The last two FY2020 spending bills– the Homeland Security and Financial Services measures– were cleared by the House Appropriations Committee yesterday. The homeland security legislation was adopted 29 – 20 while the financial services bill was approved 30 – 21. With all 12 bills having gone through the committee process, the House is now slated to bring its first spending package to the floor later this week.

Starting today, the House is scheduled to debate a $985-billion package that combines four individual bills, including the two largest, Defense and Labor-HHS-Education. The legislation also includes the Energy and Water and the State-Foreign Operations bills.

The House is proceeding without an agreement between Congress and the Administration on the overall amount of funding that is available for FY2020. Later today, Senate Republican appropriators and White House representatives are scheduled to meet to discuss the topline funding issue.

Two More Spending Bills Clear House Committee

Posted on May 23, 2019

After a full day of markups, the House Appropriations Committee reported out yesterday afternoon two more FY2020 spending bills .

The Commerce-Justice-Science bill (see relevant documents here), which funds, among other agencies, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and NOAA, was approved 30 to 22.

The Interior and Environment bill (see relevant documents here), which funds a host of disparate agencies, including the National Endowment for the Humanities and the USGS, was approved 30 to 21.

Two More Approps Bills Clear Committee

Posted on May 22, 2019

As scheduled, the House Appropriations Committee approved yesterday two more bills for FY2020.

The $690-billion Defense measure was approved by a vote of 30 – 22.

The committee adopted by a vote of 31 to 21 the $46-billion Energy and Water bill.

Two more measures– Transportation- Housing and Agriculture– are slated for subcommittee action tomorrow.

House Bills Reject Proposed Cuts to Science and Research

Posted on May 22, 2019May 22, 2019

This morning, the House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to markup the FY2020 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) and Interior bills, measures that largely reject the cuts to science and research proposed by the Administration in its budget request.

CJS

NSF

The National Science Foundation (NSF) would be funded at $8.64 billion under this bill, an increase of $561.1 million above the current level and $1.57 billion more than what the Administration proposed.

Within NSF, the Research and Related Activities account would be funded at $7.11 billion, $586.3 million more than the FY2019 level and an increase of $1.44 billion above the request.

The Major Research Equipment, Facilities, and Construction (MREFC) account would see a total of $223.2 million, which was what was requested by the Administration. Within that amount, $46.3 million would be dedicated to the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. The Education and Human Resources account would see an increase of $40.0 million to $950 million, $126.5 million above what the White House requested.

NASA

The bill would fund NASA at a total of $22.31 billion, an increase of $81 million above the current level and $1.30 billion more than what the Administration requested.

The Science Mission Directorate would see an increase of $255.6 million in this bill for a total of $7.16 billion. Of that amount, $2.02 billion would be for Earth Science and $2.71 billion would be for Planetary Science. Astrophysics would see a total of $1.37 billion while $352.6 million would be dedicated to the Webb Telescope.

The bill would allocate $510.7 million to the WFIRST project, which was zeroed out by the Administration.

Space Grant, a part of the STEM Engagement Office, would be funded at $48.0 million.

NOAA

Within NOAA, Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), the primary research arm of the agency, would receive $595.4 million, an increase of $70.3 million above the FY2019 level.

The Climate Research Program would see a total of $186.5 million, an increase of $27.5 million. The Cooperative Institutes and Labs funded through Climate Research is slated for $74.0 million, $13.0 million more the current allocation. Climate research competitive programs would see an $11-million increase to $71.0 million.

The bill proposes to fund Sea Grant at $73.0 million (a $5-million increase) while the Aquaculture line would be funded at $12.0 million.

The report is available here.

Interior

The Interior bill scheduled to be taken up also rejects many of the cuts to research programs proposed by the Administration.

USGS

The Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs) would see an increase of $13.0 million to a total of $38.4 million. Of that increase, $4 million would be designated for the creation of a new CASC in the Midwest.

The bill also proposes to fund the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system at $19.0 million, with another $6.7 million for additional infrastructure build-out for the system.

The USGS cooperative research units program, slated for elimination by the Administration, would see a $5.6-million increase to a total of $24.0 million.

NEH

The National Endowment for the Humanities, currently funded at $155 million, would see an increase to $167.5 million.

The Interior report is available here.

Next Steps

The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up the bills later this morning. We’ll report on further developments of relevance.