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News and updates

UW Joins Call for Congressional Action on DACA

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On Friday, August 30th UW signed a letter, alongside nearly 600 other US higher education institutions, urging Congress to take swift, bipartisan action on DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). The letter was circulated by The American Council on Education and is addressed to leadership in both the House and Senate. DACA provides a two-year protection from deportation for undocumented persons who arrived in the United States as children. The program has been suspended since September 2017, leaving recipients in limbo. The letter reminds Congress that the suspension of DACA is contrary to American interests and hinders a safe, positive, and productive academic environment. UW will continue to watch this issue closely and advocate for the interests of Dreamers on our campuses.

A full text of the letter is available here.

Some Progress Made but Uncertainties Remain

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The Senate Appropriations Committee made some progress yesterday but hurdles still remain in the FY2020 appropriations process.

In a bipartisan manner, the committee reported out the Energy and Water Development bill by a unanimous vote of 31 – 0. Bipartisan support for the bill was expected.  For the most part, research programs supported by the bill saw increases.  These include:

  • Science (total):  $7.215 billion, an increase of $630.0 million above FY2019 level
  • Within Science:
    • Advanced Science Computing Research:  $1.03 billion, an increase of $93.5 million
    • Basic Energy Sciences:  $2.33 billion, an increase of $159.0 million
    • Biological and Environmental Research:  $770.0 million, an increase of $65.0 million
    • Fusion:  $570.0 million in total (increase of $62.4 million) BUT $375.6 million for research, which represents a CUT of $56.4 million below the current level
    • High Energy Physics:  $1.07 billion, an increase of $85.0 million
    • Nuclear Physics:  $736.0 million, a $46.0-million increase
  • ARPA-E:  $428.0 million, an increase of $62.0 million

A copy of the committee report is available here and a copy of the bill text is available here.

At the same time, the committee’s proceedings on the defense bill and the allocations of funding for the 12 individual bills, or the “302(b)s”, were much more controversial and partisan.  Unlike the Energy bill, the defense measure was approved on a party-line vote of 16-15.  Much of conflict between the two sides was over the Trump Administration’s attempt to divert Pentagon funds to build the wall.  The future of this bill remains to be seen.

In terms of the actual contents of the bill, the legislation would fund overall basic research, or “6.1” research, at $2.63 billion, an increase of more than $98 million over current levels.  Applied research, or “6.2” research, would be funded at $5.98 billion, a decrease of $92.7 million.

Broken down further, 6.1 and 6.2 programs would be funded in the following manner:

  • Army 6.1:  $577.0 million, an increase of $70.1 million
  • Army 6.2:  $1.21 billion, an decrease of $377.1 million
  • Navy 6.1:  $682.5 million, a $2.6-million increase
  • Navy 6.2:  $1.12 billion, an increase of $149.9 million
  • Air Force 6.1:  $579.8 million, an increase of $18.4 million
  • Air Force 6.2:  $1.63 billion, an increase of $146.3 million
  • Defense-Wide 6.1:  $788.6 million, a $7.2-million increase
  • Defense-Wide 6.2: $1.977 billion, an $11.8-million decrease

The text of the legislation is available here and the report that accompanies the bill is available here.

Committee Democrats also raised objections to the 302(b) allocations unveiled by the chairman on Tuesday and they offered a counter proposal.  The Democratic alternative was  also defeated 16-15.  The dispute over the allocations could also complicate the appropriations process going forward in the Senate.  At this point, three more subcommittees– Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, and Financial Services– are scheduled to take up their respective bills next week.

With the new fiscal year scheduled to start October 1 and with none of the 12 funding bills signed into law, it is evident that some version of a continuing resolution will be needed to keep the government funded at least on a temporary basis.

 

Well, That Didn’t Take Long

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After the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee postponed the markup of its bill yesterday because of an expected amendment on abortion, the full committee has also officially postponed its consideration of the measure, originally scheduled for tomorrow.  In addition, the committee has dropped from its agenda its consideration of the State-Foreign Operations bill over issues related to federal support for international organizations that provide abortion or services/ referrals related to abortion.  The committee is still scheduled to take up the subcommittee-approved Defense bill as well as the Energy and Water Development measure, which has bypassed the subcommittee.

As noted earlier today, it remains to be seen how Democrats will respond to the Defense bill at the full committee level over the Administration’s moves to divert funds from defense installations and projects for a wall on the Southern border.  In addition, the Democrats have also expressed their displeasure at the Republicans’ 302(b) allocations for the different bills.

The Office of Federal Relations will have more later this week.

Is It Falling Apart Already?

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Only weeks after an announcement that the White House, the Senate Republicans, and the House Democrats had reached a deal on the top-line spending limits for FY2020 and FY2021 and thus enabling the Senate to move forward on its FY2020 appropriations bills, Senate appropriators came across potential roadblocks yesterday during their first markup of the year.

Two separate appropriations subcommittees were scheduled to mark up their respective bills, Defense and Labor-HHS-Education; only one met.  The Labor-HHS-Education markup was postponed.  The two bills, as of earlier this week, were scheduled to be taken up at the full committee tomorrow and it is now uncertain how the process will play out.

Earlier this summer, the various sides agreed not to pursue “poison pill” policy riders in the spending bills as part of the larger top-line agreement.  The markup of the health and education bill was pulled because the subcommittee Democrats were planning to offer an amendment that would seek to block a Trump Administration rule related to abortions.  The amendment had a chance of passing because two Republicans on the subcommittee– Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine– might have voted for it.  The committee Republicans viewed the amendment as a poison pill while Democrats argueed that it is not a poison pill because of its bipartisan support.

Meanwhile, the defense subcommittee did meet as scheduled and reported out its FY2020 bill.  While details won’t be available until after the full committee acts on the measure, the press release notes that the legislation would increase “basic and university research” programs for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Defense-Wide by $122.0 million, $76.5 million, $50.0 million, and $59.3 million, respectively.  The defense bill is scheduled to be taken up at the full committee level tomorrow, along with the Labor-HHS bill as well as the Energy and Water and State-Foreign Operations measures.  In addition, the full committee is also scheduled to approve the “302(b) allocations” at the markup session.

Although the legislation was reported out, Democrats expressed serious reservations about the defense bill as it would allow the Trump Administration to divert funds away from military programs and accounts and use them for parts of a wall along the Southern border.  How Thursday’s full committee mark up turns out because of these concerns remains to be seen.

In addition, the the proposed 302(b) allocations could prove to be another trouble spot.  The “302(b)s” are the funding levels provided to the 12 individual spending bills in a fiscal year.  Democratic appropriators let it be known yesterday that they were not pleased with the proposed allocations for the different bills and may offer an alternative set of numbers at full committee.

As of this morning, the full committee markup is scheduled for tomorrow morning.

 

 

 

Congress Back in Town Next Week

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With Labor Day now in the rear view mirror, both chambers of Congress are scheduled to return to town next week.

Near the top of its “to-do” list, the Senate must take up all 12 of the spending bills for FY2020, which is scheduled to start on October 1.  In an attempt to make progress, four of the 12 appropriations bills are scheduled to be act on at the full committee level next week:  Labor-HHS-Education; Defense; Energy and Water; and State-Foreign Operations.  In the House, nine of the 12 bills have been passed on the floor.  Even if the Senate does make a significant amount of progress, it is likely that some kind of a continuing resolution will be needed before October 1 to keep the government funded past that date.

In addition, as a result of the mass shootings around the country in August, the issue of gun violence has become much more visible and a number of members have called on Congress to address it.  It remains to be see whether or how the issue will be addressed legislatively this fall.