Skip to content
News and updates

Category: Legislation

FY16 House DOD and Senate E&W Appropriations Bills Released

Posted on

House and Senate appropriators are in full swing working on the FY16 appropriations measures.

House Appropriators released of a FY16 Defense appropriations measure that totals $578.6 billion. The bill, which the Subcommittee on Defense will mark up Wednesday, includes $88.4 billion for so-called Overseas Contingency Operations account.

In total, the bill provides $578.6 billion in discretionary funding, an increase of $24.4 billion above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level and $800 million above the President’s request. This includes $88.4 billion in Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) funding for war efforts and related costs, which is within the level assumed in the House and Senate budget conference agreement.

The bill contains $67.9 billion – $66.2 billion in base funding and $1.7 billion in GWOT funding – for research, development, testing, and evaluation of new defense technologies. This is $4 billion above the fiscal year 2015 level, and will help to advance the safety and success of current and future military operations and prepare our nation to meet a broad range of future security threats.

Specifically, this funding will support research and development of: the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter; the GPS III operational control and space segments; the new Air Force bomber program; a next-generation JSTARS aircraft; the RQ-4 Triton Unmanned Aerial Vehicle; the Navy’s Future Unmanned Carrier-based Strike System, the Ohio-class submarine replacement; Stryker lethality; the Israeli Cooperative Programs; and other important research and development activities.

A total of $88.4 billion in war-related OCO funds is $37.4 billion more than Obama requested for this same bill and represents an admitted ploy to appease Republican hawks while keeping within the BCA caps. This distribution seems in line with an effort to try to target the surplus OCO funds toward training and equipment costs that can at least be linked to the actual war operations overseas. Such maneuvers were a strong point of contention during the NDAA consideration and warranted a veto threat.

 

Senate Appropriators in the Senate Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday approved a $35.4 billion FY 2016 spending bill that sets annual funding levels for the Energy Department, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation and other agencies.

The bill would raise funding some $1.2 billion over current levels, effectively matching the increase approved in the version approved by the House Appropriations Committee on April 22. Unlike the House appropriations bill, however, the Senate subcommittee draft puts off debate on the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada that has been blocked for years by Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

 

COMPETES on the House Floor Wednesday

Posted on

The House is set to consider HR 1806 – the America COMPETES Reauthorization Bill of 2015 on Wednesday. The rule allows for the consideration of two other bills,  HR 2353 – Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 and HR 2250 – Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2016.

Out of the 45 amendments filed, only 12 amendments were made in order. None of the amendments to be considered increase the GEO or SBE directorate funding authorizations despite several amendments being authored to do such.

Additionally, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on the bill late yesterday, warning “If the President were presented with H.R. 1806, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.” The SAP Statement charges that the bill “would undermine critical investments in science, technology, and research.”  Further, HR 1806 sets “maximum funding levels significantly below those provided in the President’s FY 2016 Budget” for DOE, NSF, NIST, and OSTP with some authorizations less than half that requested.  The SAP also criticizes program policy changes in the legislation.

Federal Relations will continue to monitor the legislation as it moves on the House Floor.

21st Century Cures Proposes Funding Increase for NIH

Posted on

The latest version of the 21st Century Cures Act was released this morning and the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health is scheduled to markup the measure on Thursday, May 14th. Like the discussion draft, the updated version provides for an increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), both through reauthorization and $10 billion over five years in mandatory funding, starting in FY 2016.

Meanwhile, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), a member of the Senate HELP Committee, said Tuesday the chamber would draft its own biomedical innovation bill rather than picking up the House’s 21st Century Cures Act. HELP Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said the committee had a goal to get a bill on the floor by early next year but many think that is an overly ambitious timeframe.

House Appropriations Posts FY16 CJS

Posted on

The House Appropriations Committee released the text of the FY16 Commerce Justice State legislation this morning in immediate advance of their mark up. The Appropriations Committee released both the text of the legislation and a press release of highlights on the measure.

At first glance, there do seem to be clear winners and losers in the bill.

WINNER: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – NASA is funded at $18.5 billion in the bill, $519 million above the 2015 enacted level. This funding includes:

  • $4.8 billion for Exploration – $403 million above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. This includes funding to continue the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System flight program, and to continue progress in the commercial crew program.
  • $5.2 billion for NASA Science programs – $7 million below the 2015 enacted level. This includes funding above the President’s request for planetary science to ensure the continuation of critical research and development programs.

LOSER: Department of Commerce – The bill includes $8.2 billion for Commerce , which is $251 million below the FY15 enacted level and $1.6 billion below the President’s request. Within Commerce, there was funding levels of the following :

  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – The legislation contains $5.2 billion for NOAA, which is $274 million below the enacted level. Within this total, the National Weather Service is funded at $968 million – $4 million above the President’s request. The bill also includes full funding for the continuation of the current Joint Polar Satellite System weather satellite program and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite program to help maintain and improve weather forecasting to warn communities about potentially devastating natural disasters.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – NIST is funded at $855 million in the bill, which is $9 million below the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. Within this total, important core research activities are funded at $675 million to help advance U.S. competitiveness, innovation, and economic growth, and to improve cyber security.

National Science Foundation (NSF) – The legislation funds NSF at $7.4 billion, an increase of $50 million above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. This funding is targeted to programs that foster innovation and U.S. economic competitiveness, including funding for research on advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, neuroscience and STEM education.

The House CJS Subcommittee is expected to mark up the legislation this morning.

While specific details within the agencies are still unclear, the Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor the measure and provide a more complete analysis when information is available.