CONTENTS:
BUDGET & APPROPRIATIONS CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES
Appropriators Continue Negotiations on an FY17 Funding Bill
Administration Proposes Additional Funding Cuts in FY17
OTHER CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES
Associations Express Concerns about HONEST Act
President Signs Resolution Overturning Teacher Education Regulation
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Associations Express Concerns About Audit Requirement
OTHER
UMR Releases State-by-State Economic Impact of NIH
BUDGET & APPROPRIATIONS
APPROPRIATORS CONTINUE NEGOTIATIONS ON AN FY17 FUNDING BILL
House and Senate appropriators are working on a bipartisan basis to develop an omnibus FY17 spending package to keep the government funded when the current continuing resolution (CR) expires on April 28, according to several news reports. The goal is to avoid a government shutdown when the CR expires, as well as another CR for the remaining five months of the fiscal year.
The House plans to act first on the spending package, which the Senate could then attach to the House-approved Defense spending bill (H.R. 1301), reports Bloomberg.gov. If negotiations break down, the Senate could use the Defense spending bill as the legislative vehicle for another CR.
AAU on March 10 sent a letter to the President and congressional leaders urging them to use completion of the FY17 appropriations process and the beginning of the FY18 budget process “to revitalize the federal government’s scientific research and higher education investment strategy.” AAU also issued a statement March 9 on House passage of the FY17 Defense spending bill.
ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES ADDITIONAL FUNDING CUTS IN FY17
Last week, the Trump Administration sent House and Senate appropriators an FY17 supplemental funding request to boost Defense and border security in part by cutting $18 billion from domestic programs. Among the proposed cuts—which would be absorbed over the last five months of FY17—are $1.3 billion from the Pell Grant program, $1.2 billion from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and $350 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
House appropriators have said they do not plan to add the President’s supplemental to the FY17 funding measure, and Democrats have threatened a government shutdown if any funds for a border wall are included in the legislative package, reports CQ.com.
AAU President Mary Sue Coleman on March 28 said the Administration’s proposed cuts in research and student aid in FY17, along with those proposed for FY18, “will hobble science and make college education less affordable for working families.” The statement posted on Facebook urges Congress to take the opposite approach and “provide the student aid and research investment increases they have called for.”
CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES
ASSOCIATIONS EXPRESS CONCERNS ABOUT HONEST ACT
AAU joined a group of 23 associations and universities on March 28 in sending a letter to House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy expressing concerns about the HONEST Act (H.R. 1430), which would change how the EPA uses science in its regulatory processes. The bill passed the House March 29 on a largely party-line vote of 228-194.
PRESIDENT SIGNS RESOLUTION OVERTURNING TEACHER EDUCATION REGULATION
President Trump on March 27 signed H.J. Res. 58 to overturn the Obama Administration’s rule on teacher preparation programs. AAU and several other higher education associations earlier wrote to House and Senate education committee leaders in support of the resolution, noting that the final teacher preparation rule fails to reflect cutting-edge professional practice and could have significant adverse consequences.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
ASSOCIATIONS EXPRESS CONCERNS ABOUT AUDIT REQUIREMENT
On March 30, the American Council on Education delivered a community letter to the Office of Management and Budget expressing strong concerns about changes in the audit requirements regarding security of student information at colleges and universities.
The letter, submitted on behalf of the six presidentially based associations, including AAU, says the Department of Education’s audit objective represents an “unnecessary and burdensome new requirement on institutions that will do nothing to improve the security of student information.” It urges the office to strike the audit objective and work with the higher education community “to develop a viable approach for addressing this issue moving forward.”
OTHER
UMR RELEASES STATE-BY-STATE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF NIH
United for Medical Research (UMR) on March 28 released new data showing the powerful impact on the U.S. economy of research funded by NIH. In FY16, NIH-funded research supported nearly 380,000 jobs and $64.8 billion in economic activity.
The analysis includes a two-page summary of the findings, as well as an interactive map that shows the jobs and economic impact by state.