White House Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Shalanda D. Young and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Eric Lander issued a memorandum outlining the Administration’s FY23 R&D priorities for agencies submitting budget requests to OMB. The memo focuses heavily on pandemic preparedness, climate change, national security, and emerging technologies.
News and updates
Senate Passes Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
The Senate voted 69-30 to pass a $1 trillion, bipartisan, infrastructure bill. The legislation includes numerous provisions for rail, roads, water pipes, ports, combatting pollution, and electric vehicle charging stations among other things. Read more here. The bill now heads to the House, which is in recess until the end of the month.
And coming up- Democrats are expected to use the reconciliation process to pass their “human infrastructure” agenda. Many House progressives say they will not send the bipartisan infrastructure bill to the President’s desk without the human infrastructure component. This is slated to include more education-related provisions, childcare, and a path to citizenship for DREAMERS, as well as a deficit reduction. However, the rules of reconciliation are very narrow, so it’s very possible not everything will make it through.
Nine Down, Three to Go, in the House
After passing the Legislative Branch and State-Foreign Operations spending bills on Wednesday, the House approved mostly along party lines a seven-bill appropriations package for FY2022 on Thursday. This means that the chamber has cleared nine of the 12 annual appropriations measures.
Included in Thursday’s package were: Agriculture; Energy and Water Development; Financial Services; Interior and Environment; Labor-HHS-Education; Military Construction-Veterans Affairs; and Transportation-HUD.
The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Patrick Leahy (D-VT), confirmed earlier today that the first three bills in that chamber– Agriculture, Energy and Water, and Mil Con-VA– will move next week, with the measures expected to go through the respective subcommittees on Monday and heading to the full committee on Wednesday.
USCIS Publishes New DACA FAQs
USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) has published updated FAQs regarding the DACA program following the recent decision in State of Texas, et al., v. United States of America, et al., 1:18-CV-00068, (S.D. Texas July 16, 2021) (“Texas II”).
Federal Judge Blocks New DACA Applications
A federal judge in Texas has issued a ruling to block all new DACA applications nationwide. Existing recipients and renewal applications will be unaffected for now.
US District Judge Andrew S. Hanen stated that the program oversteps executive authority. He remanded the issue to the Department of Homeland Security, which asserted it is ready and willing to try and fix legal defects in the program.
Read more here. The full opinion is available here.
UW’s 2021 Federal Agenda urges Congress to pass permanent, positive solutions for DACA recipients and their families as part of a comprehensive immigration reform package.