appropriations
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…
House Appropriations Leadership Finalized
The House Appropriations Committee recently announced its membership for the 117th Congress, including the naming of Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) as full committee chair and Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) as chair of the Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee (see below for details). Congressional committees in the House and Senate have been slowly taking shape in recent weeks; however, many committee rosters have yet to be finalized, especially in the Senate where the majority has recently shifted from Republicans to Democrats. We will continue to report on notable new assignments as they are announced. House Appropriations Committee (see majority press release and…
Congress Works to Close Out Term as Leaders Named for 117th Congress
With time running out before the current continuing resolution (CR) funding the government expires on December 11, Congressional leaders are still working to negotiate a final deal for an omnibus spending package to fully fund the government for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2021. Reportedly, appropriators have reached an agreement on the top-line funding levels for the various appropriations bills (see COSSA’s analyses of the House and Senate proposals). The main obstacle appears to disagreement be on the size and composition of an additional COVID-19 relief funding package, which would be attached to one of the appropriations bills to…
Nita Lowey, House Appropriations Chair, Announces Retirement
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) announced on October 10 that she will not seek reelection next year after 31 years in Congress. Rep. Lowey became the first woman to Chair the House Appropriations Committee when the Democrats took control of the House in 2019. Her retirement will lead to a reshuffling among senior Democratic appropriators. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), who currently chairs the Energy and Water Subcommittee, is the most senior Democrat on the committee after Lowey, has said that she would be interested in chairing the Committee, but Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), current chair of the powerful Labor, Health and…
House Nearly Finalizes Appropriations; Senate Movement Uncertain
Before Congress left for its annual Independence Day recess, the House of Representatives got a few steps closer to completing its work on fiscal year (FY) 2020 appropriations. At the time of this writing, the House has passed ten of its twelve appropriations bills, with only the Homeland Security and Legislative Branch funding bills remaining. The House has passed funding for agencies important for social science including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Department of Agriculture. Details about the proposed funding for those agencies can be found in COSSA’s full analyses of the Commerce, Justice,…
House Releases Draft Ag, CJS Appropriations Bills; Some Details Still Unclear
In the weeks leading up to the Independence Day recess, several House Subcommittees began their work for fiscal year (FY) 2018 in earnest by marking up draft appropriation bills, including the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies (June 28) and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) (June 29). While the text of the draft bills has been released, it is unlikely that their accompanying committee reports, which include more detailed information on funding and policy riders, will be made available until just before the bills are marked up by the…
Congress Passes Stopgap Funding Bill, Returns to Campaign Trail
Congress successfully passed a stopgap funding bill on September 28 to keep the government operating into fiscal year (FY) 2017, which began October 1. The bill will fund the government until December 9 and includes a number of policy and funding provisions that have been hotly debated in recent months, including funding to combat the Zika virus and the opioid epidemic, as well as aid in response to the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan and flooding in Louisiana. The text of the Continuing Resolution is available here. Congress will reconvene following the elections in November and what happens next…
Lawmakers Poised to Pass Stopgap Funding, Return to Campaign Trail
Members of Congress are hoping to get out of town by the end of the week — a week early — to head back out on the campaign trail. However, at the time of this writing, challenges remain in negotiating a stopgap funding bill to keep the government operating into the next fiscal year, which begins on October 1. Lawmakers had planned to stay in session for the remainder of September, but noted earlier in the month that they were poised to strike a deal on a continuing resolution (CR) by this week, allowing them to head home until after…
Sam Farr, Ranking Member on House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Announces Retirement
Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) announced his retirement from Congress at the end of his term after 22 years in the House. Farr is the Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. As Ranking Member, Farr has been a vocal advocate for agricultural science and statistics, memorably speaking out on the House floor against a proposed amendment to cut funding for the Economic Research Service (ERS) in 2014. It remains to be seen who will fill Farr’s spot. Currently, only three other Democrats serve on the Subcommittee. Back to this…