Budget
The House Budget Committee will mark up its FY13 budget resolution by the third week of March, with Republican leaders hoping to have it adopted by the end of the month. The House plan is expected to propose discretionary spending for FY13 that is lower than the $1.047 trillion level set by last August’s Budget Control Act (PL 112-25). The Senate Budget Committee, meanwhile, will try to draft a resolution by early April that offers a plan for long-term deficit reduction based on the work of earlier bipartisan fiscal commissions. Senate Democratic leaders have said the resolution will not come to the floor and that they intend to adhere to the caps set by the Budget Control Act as they write their FY13 appropriations bills.
Appropriations
Member of President Obama’s Cabinet and other agency officials will be on Capitol Hill throughout the week to defend the policy decisions and spending priorities contained in their FY13 budget requests. Among the officials set to appear before Appropriations committees this week are Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Attorney General Eric Holder, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
President Michael Young in DC
President Young will be in DC to deliver the UW’s FY13 Federal Legislative Agenda to the Washington state Congressional Delegation. That agenda recognizes the constrained federal resources while maintaining a strategic focus on those initiatives, programs, and projects that will contribute to a sustainable and competitive future for the UW, the state, and the nation. Specifically, our agenda calls on Congress to make continued, targeted investments in federal student aid and research.