The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is currently accepting applications for its Fall Policy Internship Program. The application deadline is June 17, 2016. Students who are U.S. citizens and who will be enrolled in, or have just graduated from, an academic program should feel free to apply.
The Office of Science and Technology Policy advises the President on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs. The office serves as a source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment for the President with respect to major policies, plans and programs of the Federal Government.
Interns are accepted for one of three annual terms (Spring, Summer, or Fall), which each last no more than 90 days. The assignments provide educational enrichment, practical work experience, and networking opportunities with other individuals in the science and technology policy arena.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Michael Enzi (R-WY) filed a budget motion in the Senate today to establish discretionary spending topline numbers, known as 302(b)s for FY2017. The move allows appropriations work to begin in earnest as the Seante prepares to take up its Energy-Water measure (S 2804) this week.
Enzi set the budget limits at $551 billion for defense spending and $518.5 billion for nondefense spending, equal to the caps enacted under last year’s bipartisan budget deal. The agreement provided for Enzi to file the toplines between April 15 and May 15 in the absence of a budget resolution, though Enzi has not ruled out considering a complete budget measure later in the year.
House and Senate Appropriations committees show no signs of slowing down as both committees announced their intended schedules for the week. The Senate Appropriations Committee has announced subcommittee and full committee markup of FY 2017 Commerce, Science and Justice Appropriations bill, which funds federal research agencies including the National Science Foundation and NASA. Also hearings have been announced for the Senate Appropriations Interior Subcommittee will hold a hearing on EPA, and Defense Subcommittee hearing on innovation and research.
Appropriators from both chambers of Congress advanced several of the annual spending bills needed to finance government agencies for the fiscal year that begins the first of October, but plenty of roadblocks could derail the process at any time. That includes the fact that Republican House leaders say they’re not giving up on getting a budget resolution adopted, even with the statutory deadline fast approaching on Friday and their party’s conservative bloc showing no signs of yielding to the higher levels of the last budget agreement. The House is expected to give itself an extension on the budget deadline, since no agreement has been reached.
The House Appropriations Committee approved by voice vote their Military Construction-VA bill, while two of its subcommittees advanced the Agriculture and Energy & Water bills. Similarly, the Senate, which normally waits on House-passed bills, is acting quickly on its own versions of FY 2017 measures. Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up its own versions of the Military Construction-VA and Energy & Water bills, which were approved by its subcommittees Wednesday. The Senate is expected to consider its FY 2017 Energy-Water bill on the floor next week.
Happy Tax Week! Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations Team has been enjoying this week.
Financial Literacy – Americans are woefully uniformed about their finances. This situation has prompted both federal and state efforts to increase financial education, but much of it hasn’t helped. What has helped? NPR takes a look.
Weakening Infrastructure – Outside conservative advocacy groups — mostly controlled by a small network of extremely wealthy donors — have built sprawling national political institutions with large enough staffs and financial clout to rival a weakening GOP infrastructure. The effect of this shifting locus of key resources has been to move Republican politicians toward positions held by outside groups like the Koch-funded Americans For Prosperity, and consequently, the party has lost its levers of power. Read more in Vox.
Temple of Sun, Baalbek (LOC)
Schism – Trump’s supporter, as a group, have been analyzed almost more than the candidate: who are they and what do they have in common? One thing is for certain, Trump has Whoever wins the Republican nomination, it’s too late to address the concerns of Mr. Trump’s core constituents before November. Read the Op-ed in The New York Times.
Case Study: The Potty Wars – North Carolina recently enacted some of the most strenuous anti-LBGT legislation in the nation, which requires individuals to use restrooms corresponding to the gender listed on their birth certificate as well as restrict an individual’s power to sue for discrimination in state court and block local gay rights protections. The state legislature passed HB 2 in response to the City of Charlotte, NC passing broad ordinances allowing transgendered individuals to use whatever bathroom they choose. After strong national outcry, the state’s Governor Pat McCrory, who is running for a second term, attempted damage control with an executive order that would walk back the law portions of the law, but not really. The move only managed to anger McCrory’s Republican base in the state, while Democrats and other states remained upset. It is an excellent example of the increasingly strident Republican schism. Read more about in The Washington Post.
Job Hopping – When tech was a nascent sector, there were two hubs of activity in the US – Silicon Valley and just outside of Boston on Route 128. While the West Coast thrived, the East Coast didn’t…perhaps due to the Massachusetts’s enforcement, and the California banning, of noncompete clauses. Read more in Vox.
