ICYMI: Congress Finalizes FY 2023 Spending Deal, COSSA Releases Analysis for Science Agencies

At the end of last year, House and Senate Appropriations Committees released details of the massive fiscal year (FY) 2023 omnibus appropriations and supplemental spending package. The omnibus includes all twelve annual appropriations bills as well as one-time emergency funding for disaster relief and support to Ukraine. Congress took up the package before the December 23 continuing resolution was set to expire, thereby completing the FY 2023 appropriations process, albeit nearly three months late.

As noted, the final package contains $27 billion in emergency supplemental funding to help respond to recent natural disasters and extreme weather events. Within the disaster spending is $1 billion in additional research funding, which allows some federal agencies to achieve budget increases in FY 2023, notably the National Science Foundation. However, given that this additional funding is included as one-time emergency spending and not included as part of agency base funding, it is unclear whether the increases will be sustained in future budgets.

With the 118th Congress taking office, attention will quickly turn to the FY 2024 appropriations process, which will officially begin when the Biden Administration delivers its budget request to Congress in February or March. However, with Republicans taking control of the House and attention turning towards reigning in spending, questions abound on how federal funding for research will fare in the years ahead, especially after years of emergency spending for the pandemic, natural disasters, and the conflict in Ukraine, to name a few. Stay tuned to COSSA’s coverage for all the details as the new Congress takes shape over the coming weeks. Read on for COSSA’s analysis of the final FY 2023 funding bills for federal agencies and programs important to the social and behavioral science research community.