Today in Congress

Posted on March 20, 2013

The Senate is still struggling to get the FY 2013 continuing resolution (CR) approved, which now looks like it may happen on Thursday. That will leave little time to consider the FY 2014 budget resolution. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said that he is planning to keep members in session until they complete work on the budget resolution even if it means working through the weekend or into next week. Congress is scheduled to begin a two-week recess period starting this Friday.

Meanwhile, the House is scheduled to take action on their FY 2014 budget resolution today. The two chambers have wildly different budget measures to consider, which will make reconciliation between the two very challenging. The House plan is written to balance the budget in 10 years and cut the deficit by $5.7 trillion between FY 2014 to FY 2023. The Senate plan would cut the deficit by only $1.8 trillion over 10 years. But even if the House completes their work on the budget before Friday, they will need to stick around to take final action on the CR that the Senate is still debating since they can’t go home without also acting on the stopgap measure, which is required to avoid government shutdown before the current CR expires on March 27^th.

The CR is critical at this point as federal agencies are looking to that legislation to help them adapt to across-the-board spending cuts required by the sequester. Neither chamber has made attempts to overturn sequestration, but instead the focus has been to update the base from which the cuts are made by providing departments with more detailed full-year appropriations. This will give some agencies some flexibility in implementing cuts.

Busy Week in Congress

Posted on March 18, 2013March 25, 2013

Congress has a busy schedule this week before they leave town for their two-week Easter recess. On the agenda are the continuing resolution (CR) and dueling House and Senate budget proposals.

The Senate resumes consideration of the CR to fund the federal government for the rest of FY 2013. With some 90 amendments filed, they may need to vote on cloture in order to move the process forward as the bill will have to go back to the House for final consideration before the end of the week. The current CR expires on March 27^th, but both chambers intend to be out on recess starting this Friday.

On the heels of the CR votes, the House and Senate will both take action on their respective budget resolutions for FY 2014. The House is expected to adopt their FY 2014 budget resolution by the end of the week that calls for reducing projected spending as well as cutting the deficit by $5.7 trillion from FY 2014 to FY 2023, when compared with the baseline for future spending and tax receipts projected by the Congressional Budget Office. The savings would come from cuts in domestic programs, repealing the 2010 health care law, and overhauling the tax code. Continue reading “Busy Week in Congress”

Military Tuition Assistance Programs Zeroed Out by Sequester

Posted on March 12, 2013March 12, 2013

One of the first causalities of the the federal Sequester is the Tuition Assistance (TA) program provided by the Army and Marine Corps. Following the Marines Corps lead, the Army announced on Friday, March 8th that soldiers will not be allowed to enroll in TA-funded courses after the day of the annoucement. The Marines announced on Thursday, March 7th. Both programs would not go forward after March 8th. Soldiers who are currently in courses may complete their classes, but may not pay for additional courses with TA.

Military TA programs provide up to $4,500 per year for active-duty troops who are attending high school completion courses and certificate programs, or are working toward college degrees. According to the Army, 201,000 soldiers took advantage of the Army’s TA program in fiscal year 2012. The TA program provided $373 million, helping 2,831 soldiers earn associate degrees, 4,495 earn bachelor degrees and 1,946 receive graduate degrees.

The Navy and the Air Force are considering similar cuts, but as yet, have not publicly decided to follow suit.

UW estimates this will keep 100 soldiers from using TA in the Spring Quarter across all three campuses.

Senate Releases FY 2013 Continuing Resolution

Posted on March 12, 2013

Senator Mikulski (D-MD), Senate Appropriations Chair, has released the Senate version of the continuing resolution for FY 2013. HHS and Education programs will continue to be funded at the FY 2012 levels minus the 5 percent cut as mandated by the March 1^st OMB report and sequester order.

There are a few interesting sections in the bill that are of interest to us. First, the bill would provide a $71 million increase for NIH and requires an Institute of Medicine/National Research Council review of the National Children’s Study. Additionally, NSF would be funded at $7.25 billion, an increase of $221 million above the FY 2012 enacted level. This level will allow NSF to make about 550 more grants supporting 7,000 scientists, teachers, students, and technicians who make new discoveries leading to new products, new companies, and new jobs.

A full summary of the FY 2013 Senate Substitute CR is available on the Senate Appropriations Committee website.

The Senate is scheduled to take action on their version of the CR this week. The House passed their version last week. This will leave just one week before the Easter recess begins on March 22^nd for House and Senate leaders to come to agreement on a final version.

The Office of Federal Relations is encouraged to see the small increases in NIH and NSF funding and will continue to advocate to investments in university research.

Big Budget Week Ahead

Posted on March 11, 2013

The Senate will take action on a continuing resolution (CR) this week to fund federal government through the end of FY 2013. The current CR expires on March 27^th. The Senate bill expands on the House version that was approved in that chamber last week, which combines new Defense and Military Construction-VA bills with a stopgap CR for the rest of the federal agencies. The Senate version will contain three additional spending bills — Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Homeland Security. House Republicans have signaled that they are not opposed to an expanded package of bills provided it does not exceed $984 billion in discretionary spending, a figure matching the cap set under previous budget laws minus the automatic sequester cuts. The text of the Senate bill is expected to be released today.

Both chambers will also focus on their respective budget proposals this week. The House Budget Committee marks up its budget resolution Wednesday, while the Senate Budget panel will consider its plan Thursday. Both 10-year budget plans are expected to be on the floor the week of March 18 and are on course to be adopted well in advance of the April 15 deadline imposed by Congress earlier this year. Both budgets are viewed as vehicles to promote partisan agendas, and almost no one believes that the two sides will be able (or willing) to reconcile the different assumptions made in each budget on how to increase revenues and how to invest those new revenues.

And as reported late last week, the White House is now not expected to send its budget to Congress until April 8^th, more than two months late. By law, the president is required to deliver his budget proposal to Capitol Hill no later than the first Monday in February, but there is no penalty for being late. The Administration blames the delay on last year’s fiscal uncertainties, including the fiscal cliff deliberations, sequestration, and the CR.

And finally, a sequester update. As a reminder, the $85 billion cut from federal spending this fiscal year is only the first installment of nine years of sequester. Even as Congress and the White House negotiate how to mitigate the impacts of the sequester, it is good to know that they are only discussing relief for FY 2013, which would represent a down payment on the more difficult spending questions that will arise as more than $700 billion in additional reductions mount in the ensuing nine years. It will become harder and harder for Congress to mitigate the impacts of sequestration as the largest share of the spending cuts will fall on discretionary programs – like research and education assistance – the portion of federal operating expenses that now make up just a third of the federal budget today and would, under sequester, fall to about a quarter of spending by the end of the decade.

The Office of Federal Relations is actively collecting information from campus on direct and indirect impacts of the sequester to use for our advocacy efforts. It is important that the UW community have a unified voice and message on these impacts. Please contact us if you are experiencing any changes in commitment on your grants or contracts.