appropriations
Analysis of the Senate FY 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill
On July 27, the Senate Appropriations Committee successfully completed work on all 12 of its annual appropriations bills, a feat that has not been accomplished in five years. Among the bills included in the final markup session was the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) Appropriations Bill. The Senate LHHS bill contains annual funding proposals for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Education (ED), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), among other federal departments and agencies. As previously reported, the Senate appropriations…
Analysis of the Senate FY 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill
On July 13, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up and reported out its version of the fiscal year (FY) 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Bill. The Senate CJS appropriations bill contains annual funding proposals for the National Science Foundation, Department of Justice, and Census Bureau, among other federal departments and agencies. The bill is written in-line with the FY 2024 budget caps that were agreed to earlier in the summer. As part of that agreement, total discretionary spending is capped at $1.59 trillion in FY 2024, a cut of about 9 percent below FY 2023. The share allocated to the CJS bill is…
FY24 Appropriations Underway, Senate Appropriators to Review CJS Bill
As previously reported in the weeks leading up to the Independence Day recess, several House Subcommittees began their work for fiscal year (FY) 2024. The House Appropriations Committee has scheduled mark ups for state and operations, financial services, and transportation, in addition to the already reported agriculture, defense, energy and water, homeland security, and legislative branch activities bills. Earlier this week, 21 House Republicans signed a letter to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) stating their intent to reject any funding amounts above the FY 2022 levels. Additionally, they urged the Speaker to hold floor considerations until all 12 appropriations bills have been reported. With the slim majority…
FY 2024 Funding Bills Advance, Outlook is Still Murky
As previously reported, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have started moving fiscal year (FY) 2024 appropriations bills in recent weeks. The House Appropriations Committee has reported out five of its 12 appropriations bills, including those covering funding for agriculture, defense, energy and water, homeland security, and legislative branch activities. The Senate committee recently approved two bills dealing with military construction/veteran’s affairs and agriculture. On the surface, progress appears to be moving at a decent pace. However, bigger political pressures continue to bog down the annual appropriations process, creating lots of uncertainty about the path forward. Last week before considering its funding for two bills, the Senate Appropriations…
Senate Subcommittee Discusses NIH’s FY 2024 Budget
On May 4, The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing on the fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH Acting Director Dr. Lawrence Tabak, Principal Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Dr. Douglas Lowy, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Dr. Joshua Gordon, Director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Dr. Richard Hodes, and Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Dr. Nora Volkow testified before the committee. In her opening statement, Chairwoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) voiced her support…
House-Passed GOP Budget Would Decimate Science Funding
On April 26, the House passed along party lines the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023. The bill, which was developed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and other GOP members a week prior, represents the Republican’s opening bid in negotiations to raise the federal debt ceiling. Under the measure, the bill would suspend the federal debt limit until March 31, 2024, or until debt reaches $1.5 trillion, which ever comes first. However, as expected, the bill would demand steep cuts elsewhere in the budget to accommodate the increased borrowing authority. The White House and Congressional Democrats are seeking a…
Appropriators Hold Hearings on the President’s FY 2024 Funding Request for the NSF and NASA
Last month, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees held hearings to review the Biden Administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 proposed budget for the National Science Foundation (NSF). In addition to the NSF budget, the Senate Appropriations Committee also reviewed the budget request for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Both hearings addressed the request of funding increases for the agencies while also highlighting the global competition challenges the US scientific enterprise is facing, specifically relating to China as they continue to heavily invest in research and development. NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan was the sole witness at the House hearing and…
House LHHS Subcommittee Holds Budget and Oversight Hearing on NIH, CDC, and ASPR
On April 19, the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee held a budget and oversight hearing on the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) fiscal year (FY). Testifying about the Administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget requests for their respective agencies were Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of CDC; the Honorable Dawn O’Connell, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response of ASPR; and Dr. Lawrence Tabak, Acting Director of NIH. Chairman Robert B. Aderholt (R-AL) expressed concerns over the President’s budget request (see COSSA’s…
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…
Congress Returns for Packed Lame Duck Session
Congress returned to Washington after the November midterm elections to a long list of year end to-dos. Two pieces of must-pass legislation still pending include the fiscal year (FY) 2023 appropriations bills and the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). As is common, either bill could become the vehicle for other legislative priorities (such as aid to Ukraine) that Congress is hoping to enact before the end of the calendar year. However, the path to the finish line has not yet been made clear. Current funding for the federal government expires on December 16. While we expect lawmakers to…
Lawmakers Punt FY 2023 Funding to December
Congress averted a government shutdown late last month by passing a short term continuing resolution (CR) (PL 117-180) that keeps the federal government operational until December 16. While fiscal year (FY) 2023 officially began on October 1, as has become commonplace, Congress has yet to complete its work on the FY 2023 appropriations bills. Lawmakers will return to Washington after the November midterm elections at which time they will revisit the FY 2023 funding debate. You can follow FY 2023 funding coverage on the COSSA website.
Debate on FY 2022 CR Continues
With the end of the fiscal year looming on September 30, Congress continues to debate the contents of a stopgap measure to keep the government open. Votes are expected this week on a continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the federal government funded through December 16, thereby pushing decisions on final FY 2023 spending until after the November midterm elections. The current version of the CR contains a controversial energy permitting rider authored by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) that so far has prevented passage of the stopgap measure in the Senate. Should the permitting language be dropped, the House and…
Congress Working to Enact Stopgap Funding
With the start of fiscal year (FY) 2023 fast approaching on October 1, lawmakers are working to negotiate the terms of a continuing resolution (CR) to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month. As previously reported, House and Senate appropriators have released the details of their respective proposals for FY 2023 funding; however, negotiations on a final FY 2023 funding package will not be completed before the start of the new fiscal year in less than three weeks. House and Senate leaders are proposing a CR that would fund the government through December 16. If enacted, the…
COSSA Releases Analysis of Senate Draft FY 2023 Appropriations Bills
In late July, the Senate Appropriations Committee released drafts of its fiscal year (FY) 2023 appropriations bills. As previously reported, the House introduced its bills in June and passed half of them in July. While the Senate Appropriations Committee is not planning to take up the bills individually through the regular committee process, the release of its bills allows House and Senate appropriators to begin talks and, hopefully, work toward an agreement on final FY 2023 spending in the fall. Across many of the accounts, the Senate bills seek sizable increases for federal science agencies and programs, in many cases,…
Senate Appropriations Committee Releases FY 2023 Bills
On July 28, the Senate Appropriations Committee released its fiscal year (FY) 2023 appropriations bills. As previously reported, the House introduced its bills in June and passed half of them in late July. While the Senate Appropriations Committee is not planning to take up the bills through the regular committee process, the release of the Senate bills allows House and Senate appropriators to begin talks and, hopefully, work toward an agreement on final FY 2023 spending in the fall. Below is a comparison of the House-passed and draft Senate bills for science agencies: COSSA will issue a full analysis of…
COSSA Releases Analysis of FY 2023 House Appropriations Bills
Over the last few weeks, the House Appropriations Committee began considering its annual spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2023, including the bills that fund federal science, research, and data activities. In some cases, the House proposals mirror priorities laid out in the President’s FY 2023 budget request. However, in most cases, funding allocations did not allow House appropriators to include the sizeable increases sought by the Biden Administration. Still, achieving increases in a funding environment that continues to be impacted by a global pandemic is an important feat. Lawmakers have just three more weeks of work in July before…
Congress Gets Moving on FY 2023 Appropriations Bills
Last week, half of the subcommittees of the House Appropriations Committee marked up their respective spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2023; the remaining bills—including those of particular interest to the research community—are scheduled for consideration this week. In the next couple of days, the House Commerce, Justice, Science and the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Subcommittees will consider their respective bills. The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to take up the bills individually in the coming weeks with a goal of bringing as many to the House floor as possible before the August month-long recess. Despite…
Busy June Ahead for Lawmakers
Congress returns from Memorial Day recess with renewed pressure to enact legislation to stem gun violence in the United States following the most recent mass shootings over the last few weeks. House leaders have promised a vote on one such package (H.R. 7910) later this week; however, the Senate requires a super majority (60 votes) in order to pass such a bill, making the bill a much bigger lift. In addition, as previously reported, Congress is also steeped in the annual appropriations process for fiscal year (FY) 2023. While earlier in the year it was hinted that markups on the…
Congress Holds FY 2023 Budget Hearings for NIH
Over the past few weeks, the House and the Senate held their respective budget hearings for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for fiscal year (FY) 2023, hearings that typically feature the NIH director and several of the directors of NIH’s institutes and centers (ICs). On May 11, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) held its hearing led by Full Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom Cole (R-OK). Witnesses included Acting Director of NIH Larry Tabak, Director of the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development…
Congress Returns from Recess, Gets Moving on FY 2023 Budget Oversight
Congress returns this week from its two-week recess to a packed agenda. Oversight hearings on the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget request have begun in earnest, with Biden Administration officials appearing before House and Senate Committees throughout the week to defend the President’s funding priorities for next year. Reports indicate an ambitious timeline in the House for considering the FY 2023 appropriations bills. It has been reported that House leadership is looking to hold floor votes on as many FY 2023 bills as possible in July, meaning the House Appropriations Committee and various subcommittees will need to complete their…