News and updates

UPDATE:  There is a lot of confusion on Capitol Hill today as we all try to determine actual cuts proposed in the FY11 continuing resolution (CR).  A list distributed by the House earlier today identified numerous programs for cuts but those programs ARE NOT identified in the actual legislation — so the House list is not accurate.  The Office of Federal Relations is working diligently to determine the actual cuts and impacts to UW.  In the meantime, please let me know if you are hearing about cuts to programs important to UW so that we can track down factual information.

The details of the FY11 spending bill were released early this morning, and in most cases, the targeted accounts are cut below FY10 levels.  The final measure provides $1.049 trillion in spending for FY11, a reduction of $39.9 billion from enacted FY10 levels.  About $12 billion of the cuts have already been enacted through the three most recent GOP-initiated CR extensions.  In addition to these cuts, each agency is directed to identify another 0.2% across the board cut to non-defense accounts.  Those reductions will be left to the agencies to determine.  The House is expected to vote on this bill on Thursday and the Senate will follow late Thursday night – before the current CR expires.

Here is a quick rundown of some of the programs we are tracking:

• NSF is cut $53 million from FY10 (Research -$43 million, Education -$10 million)
• NASA is cut $175 million from FY10 (Education -$38 million, Cross Agency Support $83 million, Construction/Environ Compliance -$54 million)
• DOE Office of Science is cut $35 million
• DOE EERE is cut $438 million
• NEH is cut $13 million
• NIH is cut only 0.8 percent reduction below the FY10 level, with the largest targeted cut ($50 million) coming  from Building and Facilities
• SEOG is cut $20 million
• TRIO is cut $25 million
• GEAR UP is cut $20 million
• FIPSE is cut $140 million
• Int’l Ed and Foreign Language is cut $50 million

The bill also includes a full, detailed Defense spending bill funded at $5 billion more than FY10.   Spending cuts among the other agencies vary, with Homeland Security on the low end seeing a 2 percent cut in funding, and with Transportation-HUD being cut by 18 percent and Agriculture by 13 percent.  The bill preserves funding for AmeriCorps, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and job training state grants for Adults, Youth and Dislocated Workers — all of which would have been zeroed by Republicans.  It restores funding for the FDA so the agency can begin implementing the recently enacted Food Safety Modernization Act, and provides funding increases (although not as much as requested) for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission to begin carrying out their new duties under the financial system modernization law.  Republicans had proposed cutting funding for each of those agencies. The bill includes $18.5 billion for NASA and fully funds the newly authorized exploration program, but prohibits NOAA from establishing a Climate Service. 

Read more about the programs targeted for cuts.

Federal government is now operating under another one-week continuing resolution (CR) intended to give lawmakers time to debate and approve the larger agreement they reached late Friday night.  The so-called “bridge” CR was cleared by Congress shortly after midnight Friday, immediately after a deal was reached on funding for the remainder of FY11, thereby preventing a government shutdown.  Consistent with recent practices regarding short-term CR extensions, it also cut $2 billion from current-year spending, mostly from transportation and housing programs.  

The FY11 spending agreement should be released Monday, with House floor action Wednesday and Senate action to follow.  Under the budget deal, FY11 spending would be cut by about $38 billion and none of the most controversial policy riders would be included.  The cuts would come from both the discretionary and mandatory side, with almost $18 billion in reductions in mandatory spending and $20 billion in discretionary spending cuts — $12 billion of which has already been enacted through discretionary cuts in the last three short-term CRs.  More than $1 billion of the discretionary cuts will come from an across-the-board reduction affecting all programs except Defense. 

The battle over fiscal 2011 spending has been viewed as a small-scale preview of larger fights to come, including those on the fiscal 2012 budget and spending, and one even sooner on the national deficit. Republicans have repeatedly said they intend to use the need to raise the nation’s debt limit as a “leverage point” to demand more spending cuts or substantial controls on future spending. The efforts on current-year spending may have provided a useful getting-to-know-you exercise for the three primary negotiators in those upcoming battles: President Obama, Speaker Boehner, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

FY12 Battle Begins

After an agreement was reached late Friday on funding for the current year, policymakers are now looking ahead at the larger and more explosive budget issues that must be addressed, including FY12 spending and raising the debt limit.

Beginning on Thursday, the House plans a two-day debate of their FY12 budget blueprint and the contentious issue of long-term debt reduction.  The budget would cut spending, compared with Obama’s FY12 proposed budget, by $6.2 trillion over 10 years, and shrink cumulative deficits by $4.4 trillion.  It also would cut the current top tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent for families and companies, and transform traditional Medicare and Medicaid benefits respectively into premium support payments and state block grants.

In the Senate, senior Democrats say the budget debate in that chamber will be delayed at least until after they return May 2 from their two-week recess.

President Obama and Congressional leaders announced a budget deal late Friday to avert a government shutdown. The outline of the deal is as follows: up to $39 billion in cuts from the 2010 budget, $514 billion in spending for the defense budget covering the remainder of this fiscal year, a GOP agreement to abandon controversial policy riders dealing with Planned Parenthood and the EPA, and an agreement to pass a seventh continuing resolution late Friday night to keep the government operating through next Thursday while the deal is written in bill form. The temporary measure also cuts nearly $2 billion in spending from transportation and housing programs.

A Thursday-night meeting between congressional leaders and President Obama failed to resolve an impasse over federal spending that, barring an agreement on Friday, would result in a federal government shutdown.  Federal government is currently operating on a continuing resolution (CR) that is set to expire at midnight tonight (Friday, April 8^th).  If House Republicans and Senate Democrats are unable to reach an agreement on FY11 and no extension of stopgap funding is enacted today, most government operations will have to shut down.  The question of whether to include some controversial policy provisions for abortion funding and environmental regulations appears to be the last major hang-up. 

The House yesterday passed a one-week CR extension, which would also fully fund the Department of Defense for the remainder of the fiscal year.  Republicans argue that their bill, which would keep federal government operating for one week and cut an additional $12 billion in domestic spending, was needed to prevent a shutdown and ensure that US troops would be adequately funded.  House Democrats sought to substitute a simple one-week extension – with no policy riders – but were unable to get a vote on their proposal.  Senate Democrats have said the bill is a “non-starter” in that chamber and the President said he would veto the measure if it ever reached his desk. 

Also yesterday, OMB Director Lew issued guidance to agencies regarding their preparations for a possible shutdown.  Lew’s memo details the actions agency heads must take if a shutdown is ordered, including the distribution of furlough notices to “non-excepted” employees (i.e., those who are not considered “essential”).  The memo also details certain agency and employee activities that are and are not allowed during the time an agency is not funded.  Among the activities that continue will be military actions, customs and border protection activities, core federal law enforcement, air traffic control operations, postal services, and meat and poultry inspection.