Appropriations
NEW ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress to Support the Highest Possible Funding Levels for Social Science!
Congressional appropriators are currently considering fiscal year (FY) 2024 appropriations bills that would decimate funding for federal science and statistical agencies. It is critical that we raise our voices in support of robust investment in social and behavioral science research. In response, COSSA has issued an action alert urging members to write to their Members of Congress to urge their support for social science research funding in FY 2024! Visit COSSA’s TAKE ACTION page to send a quick message to your Senators and Representatives and tell them why they must support the highest possible funding levels for federal science and statistical agencies…
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…
Debt Ceiling Deal Caps Funding for Two Years, House Seeks Additional Cuts
As previously reported, the White House and House Republican leadership agreed to a budget deal late last month that would keep the U.S. from defaulting on its debt, at least until after the 2024 elections. The agreement, passed by Congress as the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (H.R. 3746), suspends the federal debt ceiling until January 2025. However, as Republicans have been demanding, the suspension comes with stiff caps on discretionary spending for the next two years. In effect, the caps are likely to result in flat funding for federal research agencies in fiscal year (FY) 2024, with perhaps a few exceptions for…
Debt Limit Deal Struck, Spending Caps Likely for FY 2024-25
Over the Memorial Day weekend, the White House and House Republican leadership agreed to a budget deal that would keep the U.S. from defaulting on its debt, at least until after the 2024 elections. The agreement would suspend the U.S. debt limit until January 2025. However, as Republicans have been demanding, the suspension would come with limits—as well as some cuts—to discretionary spending over the next two years. Should it make it through the House and Senate, the deal would set caps on discretionary spending at levels roughly 5 percent or $40 billion below current levels. However, by reclaiming unobligated…
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…
Budget Season in Full Swing
Lawmakers returned this week from its two-week spring recess and immediately turned their attention to the budget; specifically, what to do about the approaching debt ceiling and whether or at what level to cap spending on discretionary programs for fiscal year (FY) 2024 (see previous coverage). While fights continue on these higher-level negotiations, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will be meeting this week to discuss the FY 2024 budget proposals for several federal science agencies. The Senate Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Subcommittee is holding a hearing on April 18 featuring leadership from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA;…
Congress on Spring Break, Returns April 18
Lawmakers have left Washington for a two-week spring recess. Upon their return later this month, work will continue on several thorny topics, including negotiations to raise the debt ceiling and setting top-line funding limits for the fiscal year (FY) 2024 appropriations bills. Appropriations subcommittees could begin crafting spending legislation over the next couple months, and those measures may include significant cuts to discretionary spending, including for research. As previously reported, House Republicans are seeking to cut non-defense discretionary spending back to FY 2022 levels; however, such cuts will not be supported by the Democrat-controlled Senate, setting the stage for major…
COSSA Releases Analysis of President’s Budget Request for FY 2024 for Social Science
On March 9, the Biden Administration began releasing details of its fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget request to Congress, with additional information rolling out over subsequent days. In total, the Biden Administration is requesting $209.7 billion for research and development activities across the federal government in FY 2024, an increase of $8.9 billion. Within that amount, $101.2 billion is sought for basic and applied research activities, an increase of $3.5 billion. The budget identifies several cross-government priorities for the President, including: As you will read throughout this report, the FY 2024 budget request prioritizes investment in these and other areas…
March Headlines to Feature Discussion on the FY 2024 Funding Outlook for Social & Behavioral Science Research
COSSA’s regular webinar series, COSSA Headlines, is back for 2023 and will kick off March 16 with a discussion on President Biden’s FY 2024 budget request for science and outlook for research funding in the new Congress. The COSSA team will also highlight ways social and behavioral science researchers can weigh on with their elected officials to support federal research funding. Register for the webinar here.
118th Congress: Profile of the House Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations Subcommittee
As its name suggests, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) is responsible for crafting funding legislation for the Departments of Education (ED), Health and Human Services (HHS), including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Labor (DOL), as well as other independent agencies like the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Council on Disability. The LHHS Subcommittee is one of the most sought-after appointments in the House. In recent weeks, Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), Chair of the full House Appropriations Committee, announced Republican subcommittee appointments. Rep. Robert Aderholt…
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 Tacks ARPA-H Authorization onto FY 2023 Spending Deal
The finalization of appropriations for fiscal year (FY) 2023 received plenty of attention by the research community for its investments in federal research agencies. However, another important provision was the authorization of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). Touted as a major priority for the Biden Administration, ARPA-H is a “high-risk, high-reward” advanced biomedical research agency established in 2022 after receiving initial funding in the FY 2022 appropriations bill. Despite receiving funds, it had not yet been authorized through legislation until it was attached to the FY 2023 appropriations omnibus last month (see COSSA’s analysis). The long-awaited authorization…
118th Congress Convenes Amidst Historic Speaker Conflict
The 118th Congress has officially kicked off with Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) winning the speakership in the House on January 7 after a protracted fight within the Republican party. All House members were sworn in upon McCarthy’s election; reelected and newly elected Senators were sworn in on January 3. While many questions remain, details about what we can expect this year under the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate are starting to emerge. This week, the House passed its rules package for the 118th Congress, which includes several provisions making headlines. In order to secure the votes needed to win the…
FY 2023 Spending Deal in Sight?
The federal government is scheduled to run out of money unless Congress acts by Friday, December 16 when the current continuing resolution (CR) will expire. Lawmakers have been working since returning from the midterm elections to strike a deal on top-line funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2023. However, debates over how to divvy up limited resources between defense and non-defense accounts coupled with the incoming Republican takeover in the House come January have made progress slow. Still lawmakers could announce as early as today a framework that will allow them to proceed on a large omnibus spending package and…
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.