Week at a Glance on Capitol Hill, July 13-17

Posted on July 13, 2009October 17, 2012

MONDAY, 7/13

· The House convenes 2 p.m. for a pro forma session.

· The Senate convenes 2 p.m. to consider HR 627 —Credit card regulation. No roll call votes expected.

TUESDAY, 7/14

· The House convenes 12:30 p.m. to consider several issues under suspension of the rules. One of the issues is HR 2020, Networking and IT research

· Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on financing a comprehensive health care overhaul.

WEDNESDAY, 7/15

· The House convenes 10 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 9 a.m. Friday. Several bills will be considered under suspension of the rules. Also to be considered, Subject to a rule, are HR 2187, ‘Green’ school renovations and the Draft of the Fiscal 2009 war supplemental.

· House Science and Technology Energy and Environment Subcommittee will mark up a draft bill on climate change.

· Senate Energy and Natural Resources will mark up draft sections of an energy policy bill and votes on nominations.

THURSDAY, 7/16

The House convenes at 10 a.m.

FRIDAY, 7/17

The House convenes at 9 a.m.

Source: CQ Today Print Edition

FY10 Energy Appropriations Advance

Posted on July 10, 2009October 17, 2012

Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have approved FY10 funding for the Department of Energy. As previously mentioned on this site, the House provided $880,000 for the UW-OSU Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, as well as $1,000,000 for the UW Washington State Biofuels project. Although the Senate did not provide similar figures, the Office of Federal Relations is actively working with the offices of Senator Murray and Senator Cantwell to make certain that UW project funding is — at a minimum — maintained this fall when the Energy and Water Appropriations bill goes to conference and is finalized.

The House Appropriations Committee was able to provide the Department of Energy Office of Science funding of $4.9 billion, the same as the President’s budget request and an increase of $171 million over last year. The Administration’s new initiatives, the Energy Innovation Hubs and the Re-ENERGYSE energy education program, received partial funding by the House Committee. In the Senate, the Appropriations Committee cleared their bill yesterday and provided a similar increase for the DOE Office of Science. They provided funding for three Innovation Hubs but did not fund the Re-ENERGYSE program.

In terms of the comprehensive energy and climate authorization bills, the House passed its bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (HR 2454), in late June. House Leadership made agreements for votes up until the end, reaching a final vote of 219 to 212. The most important R&D provisions in HR 2454 are the 1.5 percent of the climate mitigation credit allowances that were allotted for research and development and related activities. The House bill has been sent to the Senate for consideration, with most of the interested Senate committees with scheduled to hold hearings this month and mark up in early September. Senate Leadership has asked that all Committee markups be completed by September 28.

Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Summary

House Energy and Water Appropriations Summary

OMB to Conduct Recovery Act Reporting Webinars

Posted on July 9, 2009October 17, 2012

OMB has scheduled webinars on Recovery Act reporting requirements. Individuals interested in participating must go to the website and register for each session. The webinars will be available for later viewing on the Recovery.gov website.

**OMB Announcement**

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Recovery, Accountability and Transparency Board announce that webinars will be held the week of July 20, 2009 to provide information on implementing the guidance set forth in OMB Memorandum M-09-21, Implementing Guidance for the Reports on Use of Funds Pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that was released on June 22, 2009.

Each webinar will focus on a major section of the Guidance as well as on the technology solution. The intended audience for these webinars includes Federal agency personnel, prime recipients and sub-recipients.

Registration Information

President Obama Nominates New NIH Director

Posted on July 8, 2009October 17, 2012

Today, President Barack Obama nominated Francis S. Collins as the new Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Collins served as Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at NIH from 1993-2008. He is a physician-geneticist noted for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project. Dr. Collins received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University, and an M.D. with Honors from the University of North Carolina. Prior to coming to NIH, he spent nine years on the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he was an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Collins must now be confirmed by the Senate.

If confirmed, Collins will head a $31 billion agency with roughly 18,000 employees. NIH is on course to receive a modest increase (1.4%) in funding in FY10, over FY09, because of significant funding ($10.4 billion) provided in the Recovery Act. NIH continues to serve as the University of Washington’s largest source of federal grant funding.

White House Press Release

DoD Announces New DARPA Director

Posted on July 7, 2009October 17, 2012

Yesterday, July 6th, the Department of Defense announced the appointment of Regina E. Dugan as the new Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Dr. Dugan has held several positions in industry, most recently as president and chief executive officer of RedXDefense, a company that develops defense against explosive threats. She worked at DARPA from January 1996 to May 2000. Dugan earned her doctorate in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology and her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Virginia Tech.