Policy News Briefs
Date: Thursday, May 21, 2015
The Senate Appropriations Committee met on May 21 to mark up the fiscal year (FY) 2016 energy and water development funding bill. The bill that passed the committee totals $35.4 billion, $1.2 billion above the FY 2015 enacted level and $668 million below the President’s request.
Date: Thursday, May 21, 2015
On May 21, the Senate Appropriations Committee allocated $30.01 billion to the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies to cover funding for the Department of the Interior (DOI), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Forest Service, and other agencies for fiscal year (FY) 2016.
Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2015
The House Appropriations Committee passed the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) spending bill for fiscal year (FY) 2016 by voice vote on May 20.
Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2015
On May 20, the House Appropriations Committee passed the fiscal year (FY) 2016 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies spending bill with language setting directorate-level funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF), a change from current agency-level funding.
Date: Friday, May 1, 2015
On May 1, the House passed a $34.5 billion Energy and Water spending bill by a vote of 240-177, largely along party lines.
Date: Thursday, April 16, 2015
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Space Subcommittee held a hearing on the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget for NASA.
Date: Friday, March 27, 2015
The Senate voted on a budget resolution for fiscal year 2016, and as part of this process, senators voted on many non-binding, germane amendments in a "vote-a-rama."
Date: Thursday, March 26, 2015
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Space, and Competitiveness held a hearing to review the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget request for NASA.
Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2015
The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a hearing on the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget request.
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2015
The House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee met to discuss the President’s proposed fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2015
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies held a hearing on the President’s fiscal year 2016 budget request for the National Science Foundation.
Date: Monday, February 2, 2015
President Obama released his fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget request on February 2, possibly indicating a return to normal fiscal order on Capitol Hill.
Date: Saturday, December 13, 2014
After passing a 2-day extension of the existing continuing resolution (CR), which funded the federal government through December 11, Congress passed a fiscal year (FY) 2015 omnibus spending bill on December 13 and avoided a government shutdown.
Date: Thursday, September 18, 2014
This September, Congress passed a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) funding the federal government through December 11, 2014.
Date: Friday, August 1, 2014
The Senate Committee on Appropriations released a committee report to accompany their Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill on August 1. Committee reports allow legislators to make their views on funding levels public at a time when the Senate appropriations process has come to a halt, and it is unclear whether specific appropriations bills will be voted on in committee and on the Senate floor.
Date: Tuesday, July 15, 2014
The House Appropriations Committee passed the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for fiscal year (FY) 2015 on July 15. The $30.2 billion bill would fund the Department of the Interior and appropriates $1.035 billion for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Date: Thursday, July 10, 2014
The House passed their fiscal year (FY) 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill (H.R. 4923), on July 10 by a vote of 253-170. This $34 billion bill funds the Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Date: Wednesday, July 9, 2014
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies held a markup on July 9 on the fiscal year (FY) 2015 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill.
Budget Update for August
With Congress in recess for majority of August, little has changed within the budget since July.
House Appropriations Committee releases Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill
The House Committee on Appropriations published their fiscal year (FY) 2014 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill this July. The bill met with strong opposition from House Democrats, who lambasted cuts that zero out approximately 20 programs and slash 34% from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget. The bill proposes $24.3 billion in total funding; $5.5 billion below FY 2013 levels, or 18 percent decrease. The Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee has jurisdiction over many agencies, including the U.S.
House and Senate Appropriations Committees pass respective Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies appropriations bills
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees passed their fiscal year (FY) 2014 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies appropriations bills this July.
House approves bill containing $9.9 billion in Coast Guard funding
On June 6, 2013, the House Appropriations Committee approved the Fiscal Year 2014 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2217). The bill contains a total of $9.9 billion for the Coast Guard, a decrease of $543 million from FY 2013 enacted levels. This funding will have implications for the Coast Guard’s polar icebreaker vessels, which support scientific research and other U.S. interests in polar regions.
House approves National Defense Authorization Act
On June 14, 2013, the full House passed H.R. 1960, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2014 in a 315-108 vote. The bill authorizes appropriations totaling $632 billion for the Department of Defense and certain Department of Energy activities. Although the initial Armed Services Committee Chairman’s mark of the bill included language pertaining to the procurement of rare earth elements, the final approved language contains no mention of the critical minerals.
Agency Contingency Plans for the government shutdown
The majority of federal agencies have released contingency plans detailing how they will execute an orderly ceasing of programs. The agencies’ plans are based on which programs and employees are considered essential (excepted) or non-essential (non-excepted) during the funding hiatus.
House and Senate committees release FY 2014 discretionary spending requests
The House and Senate Appropriations committees released their non-emergency discretionary spending allocations for fiscal year (FY) 2014 this June. The Senate Appropriations Committee requested $1.058 trillion in non-emergency discretionary funds, while the House Appropriations Committee requested $967 billion. These bills authorize funding levels for all of the subcommittees, including the subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and the Environment.
Appropriations update for May 2013
The Senate Committee on Appropriations held subcommittee hearings on the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget requests for the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Energy (DOE).
Budget Update for September
For most of September, Congress was focused on considering a budget for 2014 before the 2013 fiscal year ended on September 30th. Congress, however, has failed to pass a budget or a Continuing Resolution (CR) and so all non-essential government services are shutting down, and thousands of non-essential government employees, including those at the National Science Foundation, the Department of the Interior, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and NASA, are being furloughed.
This November, the bipartisan bicameral Budget Conference Committee worked to create a consensus plan to keep the government running past the self-imposed January 15, 2014 shutdown deadline.
This December, the House and Senate Budget Conference Committee led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) came to an agreement on a proposed fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget.
Congress and the White House were able to come to an agreement on an omnibus spending deal this January, approving a budget for fiscal year (FY) 2014.
Following the passage of the bipartisan omnibus budget agreement in January, goodwill continued to permeate Capitol Hill as Democrats and Republicans in both chambers passed a clean bill to raise the debt ceiling until March 2015.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requested budget increases for fiscal year (FY) 2015.
On March 25, the House Committee on Appropriations' Energy and Water Development Subcommittee held a fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget hearing for Applied Energy Funding at the Department of Energy (DOE).
On March 25, the House Committee on Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee held a fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget hearing for the Department of the Interior (DOI).
On March 26, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing reviewing the Administration's fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget request for science agencies.
The House Committee on Natural Resources held an oversight hearing on April 3 to examine the proposed fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget for the Department of the Interior.
On April 10, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing to discuss the Department of Energy’s (DOE) fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget request.
In a bipartisan effort, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies unanimously passed their Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 appropriations bill allocating a total of $51.2 billion.
The House passed the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 4660) on May 30 by a vote of 321-87.
Both chambers of Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) that will fund the federal government through April 28, 2017.
On April 26, Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX-30) on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology sent a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Energy Rick Perry requesting information regarding program management at the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
On April 28, Congress passed a short-term measure to fund the government through May 5, 2017, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown.