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News and updates

News and updates

FY24 Appropriations Process Is Underway: President’s Budget Request is Released

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Earlier this month, the FY2024 President’s Budget Request (PBR) was released outlining the administration’s priorities for the coming fiscal year. The overall request is self-described as a blueprint to build on the past two years to “grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out by investing in America, lowering costs for families, protecting and strengthening Medicare and Social Security, and reducing the deficit by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade”. 

The FY24 PBR included:   

  • $8,215 per Pell Grant award (an $820 increase over FY23)  
  • $21 billion in discretionary spending for CHIPS & Science-authorized activities including $1.2 billion for the Directorate of Technology Innovation and Partnerships (TIP)  
  • $48.26 billion for NIH (an increase of 1.7% over FY23)  
  • $2.5 billion for ARPA-H (a $1 billion increase over FY23)  
  • $27.2 billion for NASA (a 7.1% increase over FY23), and  
  • $11.3 billion for NSF (an 18.6% increase over FY23 enacted level of $9.5 billion)  

Now the House and Senate will review the request and vote on a Budget Resolution that decides on topline numbers for discretionary funding. Here is where things could get tricky as the new divided Congress will likely have trouble coming to an agreement. 

Check out a more complete list of programs and accounts on our updated appropriations tracker, including the FY24 budget request numbers, here. We will continue to add to this once more budget justifications are released and as the appropriations process continues.   

UW & WSU Engineering Deans Visit with Washington Delegation in D.C.

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Last week, the UW’s College of Engineering Dean, Dr. Nancy Allbritton, met with Washington’s congressional members and staff in Washington, D.C. (including with Senator Cantwell pictured above!)  Dr. Allbritton was accompanied by Washington State University’s Dean of Engineering, Dr. Mary Rezac, for a few of the meetings to discuss how federal investment in research is helping lead Washington state to the forefront of scientific knowledge and discovery in areas from quantum and AI to clean energy and aerospace.

For more information about visiting the district and setting up meetings with congressional offices, please click here.

House Still Making History

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The House of Representatives is still making history today, failing to elect a Speaker after a fifth round of voting, which concluded just a few minutes ago.  The last time the voting for Speaker among the House Members went beyond the first ballot was a hundred years ago.  The level of opposition to Kevin McCarthy of California among the House Republicans actually grew between the first and the fifth votes.

Read more about the developments here, here, and here.

President Biden Signs FY23 Appropriations Bill Into Law

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President Biden signed the FY23 appropriations bill right before the end of the year to fund the government and its agencies through the 2023 fiscal year.

The bill includes $772.5 billion in nondefense spending ($42.5 billion more than FY22) and $858 billion in defense spending ($76 billion more than last year). The bill also includes $1.8 billion in new funding to implement the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. In a previous blog (linked here) we highlight other final numbers including the Pell Grant increase, ARPA-H, etc.

The final FY23 numbers can be found on our appropriations tracker linked here. We will continue to update these numbers as final calculations come in.

Something We Haven’t Seen in A Long Time…

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As expected, the new 118th House of Representatives gathered earlier today to elect the new Speaker.  Before the new Members gathered to vote, all of Washington knew that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who was the Minority Leader in the 117th Congress, was going to have a difficult time garnering enough support from the most hard-core rightwing of the House Republican caucus.  The first vote for Speaker demonstrated exactly how difficult a path McCarthy faces.

With 218 voted needed to become Speaker, McCarthy received even fewer votes that many of his supporters had predicted:  he received 203 votes, with 19 House Republicans opposing his Speakership.  In fact, the new Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York received more votes for Speaker, with a total of 212.  For the first time in 100 years, the vote for Speaker is now headed to a second ballot.

Read more about the situation here, here, here, and here.