Patent Reform Bill Remains Stalled in Senate

Posted on July 6, 2011October 17, 2012

The Senate has been unable to quickly vote on the House-passed version of Patent Reform, and it now looks increasingly likely that votes will have to be allowed on a couple of controversial amendments to the bill which could cause further problems.

One of the House adopted amendments would recalculate the filing period for patent term extension applications for drug products and other patents covered by the Hatch-Waxman Act. This has raised concern among certain Senators because it would essentially only benefit one biotech firm which filed its application for extension of patent protection on day late.

The other amendment which has already proven to be an obstacle is the issue of patent office funding. While the House version of the bill included language that directed revenue to be continued to be handled through the appropriations process, a larger group of Senators continue to push for allowing USPTO to keep all of the revenue it generates from fees.

It is expected that the House would likely accept changes to the former amendment, but would refuse any alteration to the latter. Also holding up the process is the refusal by many in both chambers to refuse to discuss any other issues until the debt ceiling debate is resolved.

FY12 Commerce-Justice-Science Bill Released

Posted on July 6, 2011October 17, 2012

The House Appropriations Committee today released their FY12 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill, which will be considered in subcommittee tomorrow. The bill funds the Department of Commerce, the Department of Justice, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other related agencies. In total, the draft legislation contains $50.2 billion in funding. This is a reduction of $3.1 billion or 6 percent below FY11 levels, and $7.4 billion or 13 percent below the President’s request for these programs. This total is also 3 percent below the pre-stimulus, pre-bailout level of 2008.

Bill Highlights:

Department of Commerce – The bill contains $7.1 billion for the Commerce Department – a reduction of $464 million or 6 percent below last year’s level, and $1.7 billion or 19 percent below the President’s request. This includes funding for the following agencies:

Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) – The bill provides $2.7 billion for the PTO – the full amount requested by the President. This funding is equal to the estimated amount of fees to be collected by the PTO during FY12, and is an increase of $588 million or 28 percent above FY11 enacted level. The bill also includes language that allows PTO to keep and use any fees in excess of the estimated collected amount, subject to standard Congressional approval, and includes language requiring PTO to report on efforts to reduce the patent application backlog
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – NIST is funded at $701 million in the bill, which is $49 million below last year’s level and $300 million below the President’s request. Within this total, important core research activities to help advance US competitiveness, innovation, and economic growth are increased by $10 million above the FY11 level.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – The legislation contains $4.5 billion for NOAA, which is a cut of $103 million below last year’s level and $1 billion below the President’s request. Within this total, National Weather Service operations and systems are fully funded at the requested level, and an increase of $430 million is included for the Joint Polar Satellite System weather satellite program to ensure the continuation of important weather data collection.
Economic Development Administration (EDA) – The bill includes $258 million in funding for the EDA – $26 million below last year’s level and $67 million below the President’s request. This includes $5 million in grant funding to attract US jobs that have gone to other countries back into the US, and $5 million in loan guarantees to help advance innovative manufacturing technologies.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – NASA is funded at $16.8 billion in the bill, which is $1.6 billion below last year’s level and $1.9 billion below the President’s request. This funding includes:

$4.5 billion for NASA Science programs, which is $431 million below FY11 enacted levels. The bill also terminates funding for the James Webb Space Telescope.

National Science Foundation (NSF) – The legislation funds NSF at $6.9 billion, the same as last year’s level and $907 million below the President’s request. Within this funding, NSF’s core research is increased by $43 million to enhance basic research that is critical to innovation and US economic competitiveness.

Other Provisions – The bill includes several general provisions, including:

A prohibition on the transfer or release of Guantanamo detainees into the U.S.
Rescissions of over $1 billion in unobligated balances left over from previous years
A prohibition on NASA or the Office of Science and Technology Policy from engaging in bilateral activities with China unless authorized by Congress.

Budget & Appropriations Update

Posted on July 6, 2011October 17, 2012

Latest Budget Talks: President Obama has summoned lawmakers to the White House Thursday for a fresh round of talks on the budget and debt limit. While some progress has been made over the holiday weekend, but there is the two sides are still a long way apart if they want to reach agreement before the August 2 deadline for raising the nation’s borrowing limit. The President supports the idea of increasing revenue to reach a deal and but is opposed to a short-term extension of the nation’s borrowing authority — an idea floated by some Republicans — saying it would only “kick the can down the road.”

Meanwhile, Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND), is aiming to influence those talks by releasing a FY12 budget resolution on today. T he long-delayed spending and tax blueprint will aim to trim the deficit by at least $4 trillion over a decade by closing tax loopholes, cutting spending, and reducing interest payments on the debt.

Appropriations: The House will resume debate on the FY12 Defense appropriations bill today. The chamber is expected to focus largely on foreign policy issues rather than Pentagon spending as it considers amendments under an open rule. Overall, the $530.5 billion bill is $8.9 billion less than President Obama’s budget request and $17 billion (3.3 percent) more than the FY11 enacted level. The House is expected to focus on amendment debate today, with a passage vote on the usually bipartisan measure on Thursday or Friday.

The FY12 Defense appropriations measure will be the fourth spending bill to pass in the House, where appropriators and GOP leaders have vowed to restore “regular order” to the appropriations process. The chamber may take up the Energy-Water appropriations measure later in the week. That bill contains significant cuts and would provide nearly 19 percent less funding than the President requested.

Details on an additional three spending bills are due to be released today. The FY12 Legislative Branch, Interior-Environment, and Commerce-Justice-Science measures are all expected to be marked up Thursday morning by their respective House subcommittees. House appropriators have been releasing draft text and summaries of spending bills a day before subcommittee markups in an effort at increased transparency. The Office of Federal Relations will provide more details on these bills when the drafts are made public.

Progress This Week

Posted on June 30, 2011October 17, 2012

Congressional Schedule: The House is in recess this week and the Senate is scheduled for recess next week (week of July 4^th). The House has another recess scheduled for the week of July 18^th, and both chambers have recess scheduled for the month on August (August 8^th through September 6^th).

Debt Negotiations Continue: Yesterday, President Obama used a White House news conference to urge lawmakers to “do their job” and make the “tough choices” needed to get the nation’s fiscal house in order as the August 2^nd deadline for raising the debt ceiling approaches. He said those choices might include a Medicare overhaul, cuts in defense spending, and increasing taxes. Calling the early August date a “hard deadline,” Obama said lawmakers should scrap any recesses until they hammer out a budget deal. The House has been in recess this week and has another recess schedule for the week of July 18^th. The Senate is scheduled to be in recess next week.

Appropriations Update: The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold its first markup of FY12 spending legislation today, starting with the least controversial of the 12 annual bills — the measure funding veterans’ programs and military construction. The House passed its FY12 Military Construction-VA bill on June 14^th. Additionally, the House has already approved FY12 bills for Agriculture and Homeland Security, and the Defense and Financial Services bills have been approved by committee and are ready for floor action.

Pell Grant Program Vulnerable: Amid a political climate in congress where virtually every corner of federal spending is in jeopardy, the Administration says it wants to protect Pell grants for low-income college students. But the quasi-entitlement program faces a huge funding shortfall for FY12 and has become a tempting target for Republican budget hawks, who say that it is a prime example of overspending and “promises we can’t keep.” Those close to talks on a debt reduction deal are saying little about which programs are likely to be on the chopping block, but education experts say the large increases required to sustain the Pell grant program make it particularly vulnerable.

The Pell grant program is one of the federal government’s largest education initiatives, and has been one of President’s top priorities. The program faces a shortfall each year because it is partially funded through discretionary spending, not just mandatory dollars that would sustain it automatically. With the economic difficulties of the past few years, more people are qualifying for the grant and more people are going back to school to earn degrees, leaving the program strapped for cash. Program costs have more than doubled since 2008, from $16 billion to an estimated $35 billion in FY12. In order to maintain the current $5,550 maximum award, lawmakers must make up for an estimated $11 billion shortfall. Lawmakers in both parties are looking at proposals to restructure the Pell grant program to reduce costs, but those decisions are unlikely to be made until after the White House and congressional leaders negotiate a deficit reduction plan.

Bipartisan Support for Tax Reform: Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee sounded a rare bipartisan note Wednesday on a tax issue. They called for scrapping the current code and replacing it with a far simpler one that would help increase federal revenue. Lawmakers said making it easier for individuals and businesses to pay taxes would go a long way toward closing the $300 billion gap between taxes actually owed and those that are paid. The remarks came at the latest in a series of Senate Finance hearings on rewriting the tax code.

Congressional Pay Freeze: Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have introduced nearly 20 pieces of legislation this year to try and slash or freeze their own paychecks for 2013. Attacks on their six-figure salaries have become increasingly popular in recent years, as members face the wrath of constituents dissatisfied with the state of the economy and often plagued by personal financial challenges themselves. With heated discussions under way on whether to raise the debt ceiling by August 2^nd, several lawmakers have introduced bills that would nix any congressional increase in pay for every year that the government runs a deficit. The last pay increase members received was in 2009, when they got a 2.8 percent raise. The House and Senate have frozen their salaries for 2011 and 2012 at $174,000. But pay raises for 2013 are still in order. Members of Congress, under current law, automatically receive a cost-of-living pay adjustment each year unless they vote against it, as they’ve done each year since 2010.

Immigration Reform Legislation Begins to Emerge: On June 22 Senator Menendez (D-NJ) reintroduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2011 (S 1258). As in past years, his legislation focuses primarily on issues such as border security and guest worker visas, but it also includes language that would exempt individuals with an “advanced degree” in a science, math, or engineering field from visa caps. Meanwhile, on June 14 Congresswoman Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the Immigration Driving Entrepreneurship in America (IDEA) Act of 2011 (HR 2161), which would ease green-card applications for non-immigrants with advanced STEM degrees, but would also protect fair wages. The primary legislative driver, however, for comprehensive immigration reform in the Congress is the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2011, also known as the DREAM Act of 2011, which does not address foreign nationals studying in a STEM field. The DREAM Act has been reintroduced in both the House (HR 1842) and the Senate (S 952).

DOE Offers $120 Million to Support Innovative Manufacturing Processes: As part the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership launched June 24^th by President Obama, the Department of Energy is offering an investment of up to $120 million over three years to develop transformational manufacturing technologies and innovative materials. The Advanced Manufacturing Partnership is a national effort bringing together industry, universities, and the federal government to invest in emerging technologies that will create high-quality manufacturing jobs and enhance US competitiveness. For more information, see the funding opportunity announcement and the DOE press release.

Navy Increases Support for STEM Education: Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the Navy’s commitment to improve science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. The Navy will increase funding for STEM education initiatives from $54 million in 2010 to over $100 million by 2015. The Navy views this as an investment in its future workforce.

DREAM Act Hearing in Senate

Posted on June 29, 2011October 17, 2012

Although immigration reform remains a controversial topic in an increasingly volatile political environment, yesterday the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security held a hearing on the Development, Relief, and Education for Minors (DREAM) Act of 2011 (S 952). Several hundred “dreamers” attended and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, and Secretary of the Department of Education were among the witnesses. While this bill has been reintroduced in each congress since 2001, this is the first ever hearing the Senate has held on the issue.

The DREAM Act would grant citizenship to young individuals on the following basis:

The individual must have been continuously physically present in the US since at least 5 years prior to the date of enactment of this Act.
The individual was 15 years of age or younger on the date that they initially entered the US.
The individual has been a person of good moral character since their entry into the US and has not been convicted of a felony.
The individual has been admitted to an institution of higher education in the US or has committed 2 years to military service
The individual is 35 years of age or younger on the date of enactment of the Act.

Senators Durbin, Leahy, and Schumer have long been champions of the DREAM Act. Senator Durbin called it a “simple act of American justice” and expressed frustration at the fact that we allow foreigners into the US on visas to attend American universities and then send them back to their home countries to work for and develop businesses that compete against American companies, yet we have so far been unwilling to take steps to retain gifted and talented young people who intend to stay in the US and contribute to our own society and economy.

Those senators opposed to the bill expressed several concerns throughout the hearing:

It would allow individuals with misdemeanors, which in some states can include violent crime, to still be eligible for the DREAM Act

Response by Ret. Colonel Margaret Stock (currently an immigration lawyer): The Immigration and Nationality Act contains a definition for ‘good moral character’, which includes a lengthy list of offenses, including those that opposing senators are concerned about, which would render an individual ineligible. Also, including this statute in the bill prevents the ability of DHS to waive this requirement.

The cost of implementation is high and enactment of the bill would be harmful to the economy

Response by Secretary of DHS, Janet Napolitano: She believes that the Department currently has enough resources and finances to implement the bill with little or no effect on other programs. It would also allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to prioritize immigration goals and would free up strained resources.

Response by Secretary of Arne Duncan: a 2010 study from UCLA, estimated that the total number of students who would benefit from the DREAM Act could generate between $1.4 and $3.6 trillion dollars over their working lifetime, which would increase the revenue for the federal government generated by taxes.

The DREAM Act will encourage further undocumented immigration

Response by Secretary Duncan: The opportunities it would provide are not prospective or unlimited. Only young people who were already here for five years before the legislation is enacted into law would be eligible for lawful permanent resident status, and the period in which they could apply for adjustment under the DREAM Act is limited. Those who arrive after that time would not be eligible.

While immigration reform, particulary the DREAM Act, has seen considerable bipartisan support in the past there remains significant differences between what both sides are looking for in the bill. This is especially true in the House, which introduced a similar bill last month (HR 1842) and support is deeply divided along party lines.