Federal Update: Strong Outcomes for FY19
The Senate today overwhelmingly passed a two-bill spending package for FY19 comprised of the two largest annual funding bills – Labor-HHS-Education and Defense – which together make up about 63 percent of annual discretionary spending. It is a particularly important package for research universities since it provides strong increases for NIH (+5.4%), DARPA (+11.7%) and defense basic research (+11.8%), as well as a $100 increase to the maximum Pell Grant. Notably, FY19 will be the fourth straight year that NIH will receive a boost of at least $2 billion, bringing total funding to $9 billion more than NIH’s FY15 level.The House is expected to take up the measure, which also includes a stopgap funding bill through December 7 for all other agencies that don’t yet have full-year funding, when it returns to session next week. Once approved, Congress will have completed work on five of the 12 annual appropriations measures prior to the start of the new fiscal year, which begins on October 1 – a rarity in Washington. Last week, the House and Senate passed a three-bill “minibus” that provides funding for the Department of Energy and noteworthy increases for DOE’s Office of Science (+5.2%) and ARPA-E (+3.6%).
Congressional action on these two multi-bill packages makes good on a commitment by House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and appropriations leaders to clear as many appropriations bills as possible by the end of the month. This was made possible thanks to an agreement by appropriators to largely steer clear of politically charged policy riders and congressional leaders employing a strategy of bundling individual bills together into small “minibuses” for final consideration.
A full September legislative calendar will push votes on the remaining seven appropriations bills – which include funding for NSF, NASA and EPA – until after the midterms. Beyond the appropriations work already done, Congress also needs to take action this month on a farm bill and the FAA reauthorization, and Senate leaders want to confirm the President’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, ahead of the Court’s October session.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to Suzanne Day (suzanne_day@harvard.edu) or Jon Groteboer (jon_groteboer@harvard.edu) in the DC office.
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Final FY18 |
FY18 v. FY17 |
Final FY19 |
FY19 vs. FY18 |
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Labor-HHS-Education |
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|
NIH |
37084 |
8.8% |
39084 |
5.4% |
|
|
Pell Grants (Discretionary Funding) |
22475 |
0.0% |
22475 |
0.0% |
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Pell Grants (Max Grant) |
6095 |
3.0% |
6195 |
1.6% |
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Federal Perkins Loans |
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|
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|
Work Study |
1130 |
14.2% |
1130 |
0.0% |
|
|
SEOG |
840 |
14.6% |
840 |
0.0% |
|
|
TRIO |
1010 |
6.3% |
1100 |
8.9% |
|
|
GEAR UP |
350 |
2.9% |
360 |
2.9% |
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|
Title VI |
72.2 |
0.0% |
72 |
0.0% |
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|
GAANN |
23 |
-17.9% |
23 |
0.0% |
|
|
Institute of Education Sciences |
613.5 |
1.4% |
615 |
0.2% |
|
|
Institute of Museum and Library Services |
240 |
3.9% |
242 |
0.8% |
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Commerce-Justice-Science |
|
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|
|
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NSF -Total |
7767.4 |
4.0% |
|
|
|
|
NSF- Research and Related |
6334.5 |
5.0% |
|
|
|
|
NSF - Major Research Equipment |
182.8 |
-12.5% |
|
|
|
|
NSF - Ed & HR |
902 |
2.5% |
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|
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NASA -Total |
20736.1 |
5.5% |
|
|
|
|
NASA - Science |
6221.5 |
7.9% |
|
|
|
|
NASA - Aeronautics |
685 |
3.8% |
|
|
|
|
NASA - Education |
100 |
0.0% |
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|
|
Defense |
|
|
|
|
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6.1 Basic Research |
2343.2 |
2.9% |
2619.6 |
11.8% |
|
|
6.2 Applied Research |
5681.8 |
7.3% |
6068.2 |
6.8% |
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DARPA |
3071.6 |
6.3% |
3432 |
11.7% |
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Energy and Water |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Office of Science - Total |
6259.9 |
16.1% |
6585 |
5.2% |
|
|
High Energy Physics |
908 |
10.1% |
980 |
7.9% |
|
|
Nuclear Physics |
684 |
10.0% |
690 |
0.9% |
|
|
Basic Energy Sciences |
2090 |
11.7% |
2166 |
3.6% |
|
|
Biological and Envir. Research |
673 |
10.0% |
705 |
4.8% |
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|
ARPA-E |
353.3 |
15.5% |
366 |
3.6% |
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Interior-Environment |
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|
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NEA |
152.8 |
2.0% |
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|
|
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NEH |
152.8 |
2.0% |
|
|
|
|
EPA S&T |
706.5 |
-1.0% |
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