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News and updates

House Passes NDAA, SASC Releases Senate NDAA

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After what was beginning to look like a tough vote for House Leadership, the House today passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill authorizes military operations globally, sets defense policy, and offers a $612 billion spending blueprint for appropriators. Typically, the NDAA easily passes though the House with a wide margin of bipartisan support. The vote was 269-151.

After passing nearly unanimously from the House Armed Services Committee, both the White House and House Democrats came out against the FY16 NDAA earlier this Wednesday. Late Thursday, a group of House Republicans immigration hard-liners worked to strip out language that encouraged the Pentagon to allow DREAMers (those children who were brought to the US illegally at a young age by their parents and have been living here for almost their whole lives) to serve in the military.

Over in the Senate, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jack Reed (D-I), announced details of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (NDAA). The committee on Thursday voted, 22-4, to report the bill, which authorizes $612 billion funding for the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy.

Highlights include:

 

  • The bill authorizes $400.0 million for a technology offsets initiative to build and maintain the military technological superiority of the United States by spurring research and innovation in six high-profile technology areas to counter advantages being gained by adversaries. This includes $200.0 million for directed energy.
  • It authorizes science and technology programs of the Department of Defense at $12.4 billion.
  • Funding is increased by $140.0 million for basic research across all the services.
  • The bill cutes funding for various research and development programs by $120.0 million to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce redundancies, and terminate outdated efforts.
  • The bill authorizes a program to enhance the defense laboratories with innovative academic and industry partners in research and development activities to enable more effective transfers of lab-generated innovations to small business and other industry partners to promote their transition into military systems or commercial technologies.
  • The measure mandates the establishment of activities for major information technology acquisition programs to increase oversight and reduce technical risk and overall costs.
  • It would reauthorize the Rapid Innovation Program to accelerate the fielding and transitioning of innovative technologies.

 

 

 

What We’re Reading This Week, May 11-15

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Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team has been reading this week.

TPA Tanking – The President and the Senate had a bumpy week as the Senate Democratic Caucus bucked the President and came out in opposition to fast tracking trade promotion authority for a pan-Pacific trade pact. Read more at Politico. And here. And here.

Arctic – Good overview of arctic security and natural resources issues in the region. Read more at Foreign Policy.

Cheaper $$$ – It’s about to get cheaper to borrow money for college. Read more at the Washington Post. 

Core Sciences – The House’s COMPETES reauthorization cut the Geosciences directorate by over 8% and the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate by 45%. Now, Congressman John Culberson (R-TX), who chairs the CJS Appropriations committee, agrees that NSF should be funding more of the “pure sciences.” Read more at Science Insider. 

More Defense Drama – The Democrats we’re the only ones rallying against the NDAA this week. A group of House Republicans also rallied against the bill because the bill encouraged “DREAMers” into the Army. Read more at Politico.

Some of us found this amusing.

…And if you’re on Facebook, you should be following both of these feeds. 

21st Century Cures Proposes Funding Increase for NIH

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The latest version of the 21st Century Cures Act was released this morning and the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health is scheduled to markup the measure on Thursday, May 14th. Like the discussion draft, the updated version provides for an increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), both through reauthorization and $10 billion over five years in mandatory funding, starting in FY 2016.

Meanwhile, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), a member of the Senate HELP Committee, said Tuesday the chamber would draft its own biomedical innovation bill rather than picking up the House’s 21st Century Cures Act. HELP Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said the committee had a goal to get a bill on the floor by early next year but many think that is an overly ambitious timeframe.

House Appropriations Posts FY16 CJS

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The House Appropriations Committee released the text of the FY16 Commerce Justice State legislation this morning in immediate advance of their mark up. The Appropriations Committee released both the text of the legislation and a press release of highlights on the measure.

At first glance, there do seem to be clear winners and losers in the bill.

WINNER: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – NASA is funded at $18.5 billion in the bill, $519 million above the 2015 enacted level. This funding includes:

  • $4.8 billion for Exploration – $403 million above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. This includes funding to continue the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System flight program, and to continue progress in the commercial crew program.
  • $5.2 billion for NASA Science programs – $7 million below the 2015 enacted level. This includes funding above the President’s request for planetary science to ensure the continuation of critical research and development programs.

LOSER: Department of Commerce – The bill includes $8.2 billion for Commerce , which is $251 million below the FY15 enacted level and $1.6 billion below the President’s request. Within Commerce, there was funding levels of the following :

  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – The legislation contains $5.2 billion for NOAA, which is $274 million below the enacted level. Within this total, the National Weather Service is funded at $968 million – $4 million above the President’s request. The bill also includes full funding for the continuation of the current Joint Polar Satellite System weather satellite program and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite program to help maintain and improve weather forecasting to warn communities about potentially devastating natural disasters.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – NIST is funded at $855 million in the bill, which is $9 million below the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. Within this total, important core research activities are funded at $675 million to help advance U.S. competitiveness, innovation, and economic growth, and to improve cyber security.

National Science Foundation (NSF) – The legislation funds NSF at $7.4 billion, an increase of $50 million above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. This funding is targeted to programs that foster innovation and U.S. economic competitiveness, including funding for research on advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, neuroscience and STEM education.

The House CJS Subcommittee is expected to mark up the legislation this morning.

While specific details within the agencies are still unclear, the Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor the measure and provide a more complete analysis when information is available.