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White House to Unveil New Immigration Plan

In a speech later today at the White House, President Trump is expected unveil a new immigration plan, one that is expected to be opposed by those on the left and the right.  The biggest part of the proposal is a move to a “merit-based” immigration system, one that moves away from the family-based immigration system currently in place.

At the same time, the proposal does not address the issues around DACA and “Dreamers” nor does it call for an overall decrease in the number of immigrants coming to the country.

Read more about the expected announcement here and here.

 

Appropriations Process Marches On In House

As scheduled, three different subcommittees approved their respective FY2020 appropriations bills earlier today.  No full committee markup date has been for the three measures– the Defense, Energy and Water Development, and Interior bills. Detailed reports for the bills have not yet been released.

The full Appropriations Committee is slated to take up the State-Foreign Operations bill tomorrow.

On Friday, the Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee is scheduled to take up its FY2020 measure, which funds, among other agencies, several of great interest to UW, such as the National Science Foundation, NOAA, and NASA.

Bill Texts Released

In preparation for the markups scheduled for tomorrow, the texts of the House Energy and Water Development, Interior, and Defense spending bills have been released by the Appropriations Committee.

While most details in the bills will not become public until the accompanying reports are released, some highlights are now available.

Energy and Water

  • Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy – The bill provides $2.65 billion, an increase of $273 million above the fiscal year 2019 level and $2.3 billion above the request.
  • Science – The bill provides $6.87 billion, an increase of $285 million above the fiscal year 2019 level and $1.3 billion above the request.
  • Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy – The bill provides $425 million, an increase of $59 million above the fiscal year 2019 level and rejects the budget proposal to eliminate the program.

The full text of the bill is here.

Interior

The bill would provide $3.41 billion for EPA’s core science and environmental program work, an increase of $105 million above the 2019 enacted level and $1.03 billion above the President’s budget request. Within these amounts, the bill includes:

  • $476 million for Geographic Programs which represents an increase of $19 million above the 2019 enacted level and $438 million above the President’s budget request.

The bill would also provide $167.5 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is $12.5 million more than the 2019 enacted levels and rejects the President’s budget request proposal to eliminate both agencies.

The full text of the bill is here.

Defense

The bill would provide $100.7 billion for Research, Development, Test and Evaluation.  This represents an increase of $5.7 billion above the current level and $1.9 billion below the request.

The bill also includes $920 million for the Congressionally directed medical research program.

The full text of the defense bill is here.

All three of these bills are scheduled to be marked up tomorrow at the subcommittee level.  Detailed reports accompanying the bills will not be available until just before the full committee markup of the bills.

House Moves Ahead on More Spending Bills

Three more FY2020 appropriations bills are scheduled to be taken up at the subcommittee level this week.  By the end of the week, seven of the 12 spending measures will have been acted on by their respective subcommittees.

On Wednesday, the Defense, Interior, and the Energy and Water Development bills are scheduled to be marked up in subcommittee.  Last Friday, the State-Foreign Operations bill was reported out.

The full Appropriations Committee so far has approved three FY2020 bills:  Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Legislative Branch.

On the other side of Capitol, the Senate has yet to move on any of its bills.  Appropriations Committee chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) had hoped for a deal on the budget caps before moving on bills.  However, with no deal currently in place, he may proceed later this summer under a “deeming” resolution, which would set informal spending limits.

 

Patrick Shanahan To Be Nominated as Defense Secretary

The White House announced yesterday that the President intends to nominate Patrick Shanahan as the next Secretary of Defense.  Shanahan, the former Boeing executive and University of Washington regent, has been serving as the acting secretary since the beginning of the year after the resignation of Jim Mattis.  While he is expected to face a number of tough questions on several high-profile issues, he is expected to be confirmed by the Senate.

Read more about the nomination herehere, and here.