# Federal Update: Strong Outcomes for FY19 September 18, 2018 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](mailto:///suzanne_day@harvard.edu)) or Jon Groteboer ([jon\_groteboer@harvard.edu](mailto:///jon_groteboer@harvard.edu)) in the DC office. Sort **Final FY18** **FY18 v. FY17** **Final FY19** **FY19 vs. FY18** **Labor-HHS-Education** NIH 37084 8.8% 39084 5.4% Pell Grants (Discretionary Funding) 22475 0.0% 22475 0.0% Pell Grants (Max Grant) 6095 3.0% 6195 1.6% Federal Perkins Loans 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% Title VI 72.2 0.0% 72 0.0% 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% **Commerce-Justice-Science** 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% NASA -Total 20736.1 5.5% NASA - Science 6221.5 7.9% NASA - Aeronautics 685 3.8% NASA - Education 100 0.0% **Defense** 6.1 Basic Research 2343.2 2.9% 2619.6 11.8% 6.2 Applied Research 5681.8 7.3% 6068.2 6.8% DARPA 3071.6 6.3% 3432 11.7% **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% ARPA-E 353.3 15.5% 366 3.6% **Interior-Environment** NEA 152.8 2.0% NEH 152.8 2.0% EPA S&T 706.5 -1.0% See also:- [ Budget and Appropriations ](/issues/budget-appropriations) - [ Washington Updates ](/news-source/washington-update) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)