Congress is currently in recess for Memorial Day and both chambers are scheduled to return next week. The Appropriations Committees in both chambers are expected to continue to move forward on the FY2019 appropriations process after they reconvene.
News and updates
DOE Office of Science Funded at $6.7 Billion in Senate Bill
The FY2019 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday would fund the Department of Energy Office of Science (Science) at $6.65 billion. The office is currently funded at $6.26 billion and the Administration requested $5.39 billion for it in FY2019.
Within Science, Fusion would be funded at $425.0 million.
Additional details about the Senate bill are available here.
Senate Appropriations Approves First Two Spending Bills
During a markup session earlier today, the full Senate Appropriations Committee cleared its first two spending bills for FY2019, the Energy and Water Development and Agriculture bills. They were approved at the subcommittee level on Tuesday.
Office of Federal Relations will provide details as they become available.
ED Proposes to Delay Implementation of Distance Education “State Authorization” Regulations
The Department of Education announced today its intention to delay the implementation of “state authorization” regulations on distance education programs. The announcement by the department, which is expected to appear tomorrow in the Federal Register, cites a number of remaining questions surrounding the issue, including various unresolved operational and definitional uncertainties. The department has proposed to delay the regulations by two years to July 1, 2020.
2 Spending Bills Clear Senate Subcommittees
The Senate appropriations subcommittees responsible for Energy and Water and Agriculture spending bills cleared their respective bills yesterday. While most of the details are not yet available, the Energy and Water bill reported out yesterday would fund the Department of Energy Office of Science would be funded at $6.65 billion, an increase of $390 million above the FY2018 level and $1.26 billion above the Administration’s budget request.
In the House, the markup of the Interior spending bill that was scheduled before the full Appropriations Committee has beenpostponed and will be rescheduled after the week-long Memorial Day recess.