Appropriations
Congress Puts Off Decisions on Spending, Debt Limit; Senate May Begin Working Through Appropriations Bills
Lawmakers kicked off fiscal year (FY) 2022 by enacting temporary measures to keep the government functioning while negotiations continue: a continuing resolution (CR) to fund government until December 3 and a short-term increase on the federal borrowing limit to avoid default, with plans to revisit the debt limit in December. Congressional leaders have also yet to make measurable progress on a spending package through the reconciliation process (see previous coverage of the House’s proposals). With immediate crises resolved until December, the Senate Appropriations Committee may begin to work through proposals for FY 2022 regular appropriations bills. The Senate committee has…
Details of House Democrats’ Reconciliation Proposals Released; Road to Passage Still Unclear
As previously reported, House Democrats are currently working to pass their $3.5 billion “Build Back Better” plan through the fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget reconciliation process. As part of the process, authorizing committees have been tasked with making recommendations for how to allocate the funding in the plan. At this point, all committees have made and approved their recommendations, which have been compiled by the House Budget Committee into a final package to be approved by the full House. Negotiations are underway with various wings of the Democratic caucus to reach an agreement to pass the full bill in the…
Fate of 2022 Spending Unknown as End of Fiscal Year Looms
On Monday, the Senate blocked the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) that would have kept the government funded through December 3. Senate Republicans opposed the bill because it includes a suspension of the debt limit through mid-December. The Senate will try to pass a “clean” CR later this week to avoid a government shutdown come October 1, the start of fiscal year (FY) 2022. In the meantime, the fate of the FY 2022 appropriations bills remains in limbo. As previously reported, the House has passed nine of its 13 annual spending bills over the summer, while the remaining bills have passed…
White House Outlines R&D Budget Priorities for FY 2023
The White House has published a memorandum on Research & Development Priorities for the fiscal year (FY) 2023 Budget, a document that lays out the Administration’s priorities for federal research agencies to consider when drafting their budget requests. This memo, which is traditionally released annually by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), is the first such memo released by the Biden Administration. It outlines five cross-cutting themes for agencies to consider for their budgets: pandemic readiness and prevention; tackling climate change; research and innovation in emerging technologies; innovation in…
House Science Committee Approves NSF Spending in Reconciliation Package
On September 9, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee met to pass a set of spending recommendations that allocate $45.5 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2022 spending as part of the House Democrats’ wide-reaching “Build Back Better” plan. The $3.5 trillion in total proposed spending (over 5-10 years) would be passed as part of the budget reconciliation process (which removes several procedural hurdles to passing such legislation) and would be in addition to regular FY 2022 appropriations (see COSSA’s analysis of the House’s FY 2022 appropriations bills here). The Science Committee’s recommendations would provide the National Science Foundation (NSF)…
House Passes Funding Bills for Labor-HHS-Education, Agriculture
On July 29, the House of Representatives passed a six-bill package of spending legislation for the next fiscal year (FY), FY 2022. The package (H.R. 4502) included both the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education and Agriculture appropriations bills (see COSSA’s analysis). As it breaks for August recess, the House has passed nine of its 13 annual spending bills. Among the bills left to pass are the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill (which funds the National Science Foundation) and the Department of Defense appropriations bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, has started marking up its bills this week….
House Committee Approves FY 2022 Funding Bills
Over the last few weeks, the House Appropriations Committee began considering its annual appropriations bills for fiscal year (FY) 2022, including the bills that fund federal science, research, and data activities. At least on the House side, the FY 2022 bills are in many ways a stark contrast to the spending measures we have seen over the last several years. This is for a few reasons. First, the spending caps that have placed limits on discretionary spending over the last decade expired in FY 2021 and new ones have not yet been set. Second, it is common to see major…
COSSA Urges Advocates to Contact Elected Officials in Support of Social Science in FY 2022
As Congressional appropriators are preparing legislation that will determine funding for federal science and data agencies for the next year, COSSA released an action alert urging social science advocates to reach out to their Congressional representatives to tell them to fight for robust investments in social and behavioral science research and data. COSSA created a menu of letters that stakeholders can send to their Members of Congress to share their priorities for the coming year. COSSA’s TAKE ACTION page allows advocates to quickly send a letter to their Senators and Representative and tell them why they care about supporting the National Science…
House and Senate Appropriators Hold Hearings on NIH Budget for FY 2022
The Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) in both the House and the Senate recently held hearings to discuss the fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Since both hearings were held prior to the full release of President Biden’s FY 2022 budget request, much of the discussion focused on the proposed increase to the top-line budget for NIH as well as the proposal for a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) as referenced in the Biden Administration’s “skinny budget” released earlier this year. The House…
Biden Administration Release FY 2022 Budget Request; Read COSSA’s Analysis
On May 28, the Biden Administration released details of its fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget request to Congress. A “skinny budget” with preliminary details was issued on April 9. As with any first budget of a new presidential administration, the blueprint outlines several shifts in priority from the last administration as well as proposals for new activities and initiatives. Of particular note, the Biden budget underscores the President’s commitment to science as a means for addressing large societal challenges, such as climate change, racism, and, of course, pandemic recovery. To this end, the budget request proposes some fairly major changes…
Appropriators Hold Hearings on NSF Budget for FY 2022 & Potential New Research Funding
This month, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees held hearings to address the Biden Administration’s proposed budget for the National Science Foundation (NSF) in fiscal year (FY) 2022. In addition to the budget, both hearings addressed the possibility of significant funding increases for the agency through a new technology directorate as proposed in the Endless Frontiers Act (S. 1260) (see related article). NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan was the sole witness at both hearings, voicing strong support for the Biden Administration’s proposed increases to the NSF budget. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) held its…
Biden Preliminary FY 2022 R&D Proposals Rely on “DARPA” Model
On April 9, the Biden Administration released preliminary, high-level details of its fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget request, referred to as a “skinny budget.” At this stage, details are only available for Cabinet-level departments and a handful of other “major” agencies, with limited details about some agencies within the departments. For example, it includes preliminary details for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but not for the Census Bureau. Full budget details will be released in the coming months. In the meantime, however, Congress is proceeding with the FY 2022 appropriations process without the Administration’s full proposals. Appropriators in both…
Earmarks Return to House Under New Name
Last month, House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) announced the intent of the committee to accept requests for “Community Project Funding” in the fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriations bills. Although the announcement essentially reverses the decade-long House ban on earmarks set by the Republican majority in 2011, Chairwoman DeLauro’s plan includes new rules to govern the process. Among the reforms include posting every request online for public viewing, limiting the number of requests allowed per member to 10, and a cap on the total amount of funding to be used for projects at no more than one percent of…
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…
COSSA Releases Analysis of FY 2021 Appropriations for Science Agencies
As previously reported, before adjourning for the year Congress passed a combined appropriations and coronavirus aid package that provides much needed pandemic relief and will fund the government through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2021 (September 30, 2021). Following several days of uncertainty, President Trump signed the package into law on December 27. COSSA’s full analysis of the final FY 2021 funding bills for federal agencies and programs important to the social and behavioral science research community is now available here. Attention now turns to the 117th Congress which convened on January 3. Lawmakers have begun the process of…
Congress Passes Final FY 2021 Funding, COVID Relief, Closing the Books on an Extraordinary Year
After weeks of tense negotiations, Congressional leaders reached an agreement on a coronavirus aid package and legislation to fund the government through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2021. The appropriations agreement largely provides flat funding or modest increases to social science agencies, unsurprising given the strains placed on the federal budget by the pandemic. COSSA will release a full analysis of the funding bills for social science agencies later this week. In the meantime, top-line funding for agencies important to the social and behavioral sciences are provided in the chart below. COSSA’s complete coverage of FY 2021 funding can…
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…
Senate Releases Appropriations Bills Ahead of Omnibus Negotiations
On November 10, the Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of all 12 fiscal year (FY) 2021 appropriations bills; this is for the fiscal year that officially began last month on October 1. As previously reported, the House of Representatives passed 10 of its bills in July. The release of the Senate bills signals that lawmakers plan to negotiate final FY 2021 spending during this post-election lame duck session. Senators are not expected to take up the bills on the Senate floor; rather, their bills are meant as a jumping off point for negotiations with the House on a final…
Senate Kicks Off Lame Duck Session by Releasing FY 2021 Spending Bills
The Senate Appropriations Committee released all 12 of its annual appropriations bills for fiscal year (FY) 2021, which would fund the government for the fiscal year that began on October 1, 2020. The government is currently operating under a continuing resolution that expires on December 11 (see COSSA’s previous coverage). The House released all of its annual appropriations bills in July and passed 10 of them (see COSSA’s analysis). The Senate Appropriations Committee is not planning to consider the bills; rather, they will be used as a starting point for negotiations with House appropriators as both chambers attempt to reach…
FY 2021 Begins Under a CR; COVID Relief Negotiations Up in the Air
Federal fiscal year (FY) 2021 officially began on October 1. As previously reported, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) last month keeping the government operating past the November elections until December 11; the President has since signed the CR into law. What this means for FY 2021 science funding is unknown. The lame-duck Congress will return after the election and may attempt to finalize FY 2021 spending, or pass another CR kicking the responsibility to the next Congress that will be seated in January. The fate of funding largely lies in the outcome of the Congressional and Presidential elections and…