Category: Budget

The University of Washington has submitted fiscal year 2010 appropriations requests to the state of Washington’s congressional delegation. The requests are part of a strategic federal agenda designed to advance UW specific projects, as well as to bolster agency program accounts that the University draws from on a competitive basis.

Members of Congress receive appropriations requests from many of their constituents and must then decide which projects to advance in the process. Projects selected by individual Members of Congress are then forwarded on to one of twelve appropriations subcommittees. Member of the House of Representatives were required to post their FY10 appropriations requests on their websites by April 3rd. UW FY10 projects selected by state of Washington House members are listed below. At this stage, the selection of projects is by no means a guarantee of funding. Rather, the advancement of projects by Members to the subcommittees is an important step in securing requested funding. The FY10 appropriations process will likely unfold over the course of the summer and fall.  

Projects requested for the University of Washington by House Members: Continue reading “House Members Post FY10 Appropriations Requests”

On Thursday April 2nd, the House of Representative and Senate approved the FY2010 Budget Resolution, which sets-up a conference session to iron out differences in the legislation between the two chambers. A budget resolutuion serves as a blueprint for Congress in putting together an actual budget. Over the past few weeks, House and Senate Budget Committees held hearings on the budget, which involved Administration offices. While the budget resolution does not require the President’s signature, it does support his goals of a health care overhaul, energy independence, boosting education, and reducing the deficit over the next 5-10 years.

The Senate adopted the legislation late in the night after working through over 100 proposed amendments, most of which were turned away. One amendment of particular note, proposed by Senator John McCain would have dramatically reduced domestic discretionary spending with the goal of providing greater deficit reduction, failed on a 38-60 vote. Other amendments proposed reducing spending in areas that received funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. However, all such amendments were defeated handily.

The House and Senate are expected to reach a conference agreement on the budget resolution after the two-week spring congressional recess that starts today. The FY2010 budget process will likely play out over the course of the next five months. President Obama’s official budget request is now expected in early May, and consideration by the various appropriations committees and subcommittees is expected to last into the fall.

The House and Senate will take up their budget resolutions this week as Democrats seek to lay the groundwork for healthcare reform and other elements of President Obama’s agenda, as Republicans continue to make the case that the programs will hurt the struggling economy.

Both resolutions include deficit-neutral reserve funds for healthcare reform, energy and education — three pillars of the Obama agenda — leaving it up to the committees of jurisdiction to draft legislation on matters such as a cap-and-trade program to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: Congress Daily

Yesterday, the Senate Budget Committee approved its FY10 budget resolution following similar action in the House the day before.  The White House Budget Director applauded House and Senate committee approval of their budgets, noting they include the administration’s top priorities.   Both the House and Senate will take floor action on their proposals sometime next week.  Unlike the version approved by the House Budget panel on Wednesday, the Senate resolution includes no reconciliation instructions for legislation to implement Obama’s health and education policies. Such provisions would allow those bills to move without the threat of a Senate filibuster.  The decision of whether to include reconciliation will be made in April during a House-Senate conference on the budget.  Democrats are hopeful bipartisan support can be found for an overhaul of the health care system, but many want reconciliation as a backup to move a bill if negotiations break down.