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News and updates

News and updates

Shut Down Likely

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At midnight tonight, the Continuing Resolution passed in December 2017 will expire. Presently, it does not look like Congress will be able to agree on a short or long term funding solution, and a shutdown is highly likely.

Agencies are circulating memos advising staff how to proceed in the high likelihood there is a shutdown and nonessential federal employees will be furloughed without pay.

OMB has just released a memorandum – Planning for Agency Operations during a Potential Lapse in Appropriations – that includes FAQs regarding grants and contracts (Section II, pages 3-9).

The University of Washington leadership has developed information as to impacts of a shutdown, which will occur in three major areas: research funding, student aid, and Medicare and Medicaid payments. Those impacts can be found here. 

If the federal government does shut down, significant impacts will not be immediately felt by the UW community. Initial impacts will be felt by those in the research community needing to communicate with the federal enterprise such as researchers needing engagement or approval from program managers or researchers applying for grants.  Impacts will be magnified if a shut down is prolonged and goes for multiple weeks.

The University does a plan in place to have adequate cash on hand from existing accounts to cover anticipated expenditures in the event of delayed federal reimbursement. We estimate that we could go at least one month, possibly more, before layoffs or contract suspensions would be initiated.

To follow developments on budget negotiations minute to minute, the Washington Post is counting down the time to midnight.

The Federal Relations team is continuing to monitor the situation and will continue to provide updates.

CR Stymied in Senate

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After the House passage of the four-week CR, the Senate then voted to begin deliberations. However,  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appears to lack the 60 votes required to send the CR to President Trump for his signature. There are 51 Republican Senators and several Republican Senators have announced they would not vote for the House-passed measure.

House and Senate Democrats are largely united in opposing the measure, partly out of frustration with the failure of congressional leaders to reach a bipartisan deal that would raise spending caps for the current fiscal year and offer a legislative fix to protect immigrant “Dreamers” from deportation.

House Passes CR

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The House voted 230 – 197 to approve a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government through February 16 and renew the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years. It does not include any immigration provisions to address DACA, Dreamers, or the border.

The measure goes on to the Senate.

This Week in Congress, January 15-19

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Here is a selection of committee meetings taking place this week.

January 16
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Hearing to examine the “Domestic and Global Energy Outlook”
10:00am, 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building

January 17
House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology: Subcommittee on Space
Hearing to examine “An Update on NASA Commercial Crew Systems Development”
10:00am, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building

House Committee on Ways and Means: Subcommittee on Oversight
Hearing on “The Opioid Crisis: The Current Landscape and CMS Actions to Prevent Opioid Misuse”
10:00am, 1100 Longworth House Office Building

Senate Committee on Finance
Executive Session to consider the nomination of Alex Azar II to be Secretary of Health and Human Services
10:00am, 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Hearing to examine “Unintended Consequences: Medicaid and the Opioid Epidemic”
10:00am, 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Hearing on “Facing 21st Century Public Health Threats: Our Nation’s Preparedness and Response Capabilities, Part I”
10:00am, 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building

House Committee on Rules: Subcommittee on Rules and Organization
Members’ Day hearing on “Article I: Effective Oversight and the Power of the Purse” (return of earmarks)
10:30am, H-313, The Capitol

January 18
House Committee on Energy and Commerce: Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection
Hearing on “The Disrupter Series: The Internet of Things, Manufacturing, and Innovation”
10:00am, 2123 Rayburn House Office Building

Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Hearing to examine the nominations of Melissa F. Burnison to be an Assistant Secretary (Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs), and Anne Marie White to be an Assistant Secretary (Environmental Management), both of the Department of Energy
10:00am, 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Hearing on “Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act: Financial Aid Simplification and Transparency”
10:00am, 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building

House Committee on Rules
Hearing on “Article I: Effective Oversight and the Power of the Purse” (return of earmarks)
10:30am, H-313, The Capitol

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Executive Session to examine the nominations of Barry Lee Myers to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere; Diana Furchtgott-Roth to be Assistant Secretary of Transportation; and James Bridenstine to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
11:00am, 216 Hart Senate Office Building

What We’re Reading, January 8-12

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Here is a selection of articles we’ve read this week.

Politico Special Report – Does the white working class really vote against its own interests? In exchange for policies like the new tax bill, which several nonpartisan analyses conclude will lower taxes on the wealthy and raise them for the working class, did they really just settle for a wall that will likely never be built, a rebel yell for Confederate monuments most of them will never visit, and the hollow validation of a disappearing world in which white was up and brown and black were down? Read more from Politico.

Today’s College Students – Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Republicans on Capitol Hill are advocating a fundamental rethink of higher education, pushing for more vocational programs and shorter pathways to credentials.  Today’s college students aren’t just 18-year-olds living in cramped dorm rooms on ivy-covered campuses. Rather, the men and women who attend college often work at least part-time to cover their tuition and living costs, enroll in schools they were guaranteed to get into and major in professionally focused degrees like business and nursing. Read more from the Wall Street Journal.

‘Sh*thole’ Heard Round the World – President Trump on Thursday balked at an immigration deal that would include protections for people from Haiti and some nations in Africa, demanding to know at a White House meeting why he should accept immigrants from “shithole countries” rather than from places like Norway, according to people with direct knowledge of the conversation. Read more from the New York Times.

2018: Year of the Woman? – With the seating of Minnesota Democrat Sen. Tina Smith on Tuesday, Jan. 3, the 115th Congress is now able to claim 106 female members — the most of any Congress to date. Smith is the 51st woman to serve in the Senate since the first was appointed in 1922. There are currently 22 female senators serving, an all-time high for the chamber, and 84 women serving as voting representatives in the House (just one below the record of 85 set in 2015).  Read more from Roll Call.

VIDEO: The Week in Hits and Misses – Roll Call’s Congressional Hits and Misses is back! With both chambers on the Hill for the second session of the 115th Congress, hear lawmakers’ funny, bizarre and awkward moments of the week of Jan. 8, 2018. Check it out on Roll Call.

5 (White) Guys Burgers – Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi complained Thursday that immigration negotiations are being led by “five white guys” — and was quickly rebuked by her No. 2, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, himself one of those white guys involved in the talks. “The five white guys I call them, you know,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference. “Are they going to open a hamburger stand next or what?” Pelosi said, complaining that minority members of Congress were not involved in deciding the fate of Dreamers. Pelosi’s quip was a reference to the hamburger chain Five Guys and the five white men leading the immigration negotiations. Watch the press conference on Politico.