House Passes FY2008 Supplemental Appropriations Bill
Last night, the House passed H.R. 2642, the fiscal year 2008 (FY2008) supplemental appropriations bill, after House leaders reached
agreement on it earlier this week. The House passed the bill in two amendments: the first amendment, which it approved by a 268-155 vote,
includes $162 billion for the wars; and the second $95.5 billion amendment, which it overwhelmingly passed by 416 to 12, focuses on domestic
initiatives that do not directly relate to military operations. The news for the research community is good, inasmuch as the domestic
spending amendment to the bill includes $400 million for a Science Initiative. According to House Appropriations Chairman David Obey’s
(D-WI)
press release, the science funding in the bill is “for important investments to improve America’s global
competitiveness, energy efficiency, and medical research.” Specifically, the House bill’s Science Initiative provides $150 million for the
National Institutes of Health (NIH), and $62.5 million each to the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy’s (DOE)
Office of Science, the Department of Energy’s Environmental Cleanup Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The House supplemental also includes an additional $150 million for the Food and Drug Administration for food and medical product safety.
The House had to designate all the spending in the supplemental as emergency in order to include it in the bill, which means that science
agencies will have to spend it prior to the enactment of the continuing resolutions that we expect in September.
While the numbers are not huge, they represent a major affirmation of the importance of U.S. investment in research, and we cannot
underestimate the significance of science funding’s having survived as one of the critical domestic priorities in this bill. NIH plans to
distribute the funds on a pro-rata basis across Institutes, Centers and the Common Fund. In terms of NSF, the bill allocates $22.5 million
for research, and $40 million for education, and for DOE, the bill contains instructions that DOE must “utilize this funding to eliminate
all furloughs and reductions in force which are a direct result of budgetary constraints.” Further, with respect to DOE, the “funding is
intended to maintain technical expertise and capability at the Office of Science, and may be used for National Laboratory Research and
Development including research related to new neutrino initiatives [though] funding for research efforts shall not be allocated until the
Office of Science has fully funded all personnel requirements.”
Prior to the House vote, House leaders had reached agreement with Senate leaders and with the White House on the contents of the bill.
This means that the Senate is planning to pass the bill without changing it or inserting additional domestic spending and that the House
will not need to vote on the bill again, therefore, before sending it to the President, who has indicated that he will sign it. The
Senate plans to vote on the House version of the supplemental next week, and Congress plans to send the bill to the President for his
signature by the Fourth of July.
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Appropriations committees Begin Markups
Last week, the House appropriations subcommittees began marking up their individual fiscal year 2009 (FY2009) appropriations bills, and
this week, the Senate quickly followed suit by beginning work on its own FY2009 spending bills. The House and Senate are planning to mark
up all their FY2009 appropriations bills in subcommittee as well as in full committee, and Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), the Chair of the
Senate Appropriations Committee, has said his Committee plans to mark up all twelve appropriations bills by the end of July.
So far, the bills provide for significant increases in funding for science agencies and basic research over last year. Although neither
chamber is planning to pass the appropriations bills until after the elections in November, significant increases like the ones we are
seeing are valuable, inasmuch as they will function as placeholders and help drive discussions later this year or next when the House and
Senate do pass the bills.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
After weeks of uncertainty over when the FY2009 appropriations process would begin - and some speculation that it might not even begin at
all - Congress took decisive action this week and affirmed the importance of our nation’s investment in research. In a step that energized
the entire biomedical research community, the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (L-HHS/Ed)
Appropriations Subcommittee marked up a bill that includes an increase of $1.2 billion (4.1%) for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
This bill, which would provide a total of $30.4 billion to NIH, now heads to the full Appropriations Committee, which is planning to
consider it on June 25.
While the House Appropriations Committee has not yet released the details on funding in the bill, L-HHS/Ed Subcommittee Chairman David Obey
(D-WI) issued a statement on some of the major provisions of the bill http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/ObeySubMarkup06-19-08.pdf .
Chairman Obey offered the following statement regarding NIH:
"The quality of health care delivered to the American people rests
fundamentally on the level of knowledge that we have about diseases.
That means expanded medical research is crucial. The President’s
response is to freeze funding for the National Institutes of Health.
This
bill rejects that freeze. It provides a $1.2 billion increase over last year
and the request, so that NIH can capitalize on
unprecedented scientific
opportunities to reduce the disease burden on the country. This increase
is the largest in six years. More than
1,000 new research grants will
be supported."
FASEB President Robert E. Palazzo, Ph.D. sent a
letter thanking Chairman Obey for his strong support for research, and in a
press release
FASEB issued after learning about the Subcommittee mark for NIH, Dr. Palazzo said, “we are immensely grateful to Chairman Obey for his
vision and dedication to NIH.” He added that “we look forward to working with Chairman Obey and Congress to bring about a sustainable
future for NIH.”
This is only the first step in what promises to be a long and contentious process. The Senate L-HHS/Ed Appropriations Subcommittee plans to mark-up
its own version of the bill on June 24.
National Science Foundation (NSF)
On June 12, the House Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its version of the FY2009 appropriations
bill, providing a recommendation of $26 billion for investments in science, technology and innovation, which is an increase of $1.7 billion
over last year. In accordance with Chairman Alan Mollohan’s (D-WV) statement that “significant investments in… science, math and
engineering education are critical if this country is to remain competitive in today’s global economy,” the Subcommittee recommended the
provision of $6.9 billion for NSF, which is consistent with the President’s $6.85 billion request. The full version of Chairman Mollohan’s
press release is available
here. The House Appropriations Committee postponed its full markup of the bill on June 19 without announcing a
new date.
Also this week, on June 18, the Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee marked up, and on June 19, the full Senate Appropriations Committee
passed its own $57.9 billion version of the FY2009 appropriations bill. Like the House bill, the Senate CJS appropriations bill provides
$6.9 billion for NSF, $790 million of which is for NSF’s education and training programs to support science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) fields to help build the U.S.’s next generation of innovators. Senate CJS Appropriations Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski
(D-MD) made the statement that “if America is going to be more competitive, we must focus on funding and policies to develop new
technologies that lead to new products and industries that create new jobs.” Senator Mikulski’s full press release is available
here.
Department of Energy (DOE)
On June 17, the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee approved by voice vote a $33.3 billion FY2009 Energy and Water
Development Appropriations Act that includes funding for DOE’s Office of Science. The bill recommends over $4.86 billion for the Office of
Science, which is $140 million more that the President’s request and is an increase of $844 million over the amount Congress provided in
fiscal year 2008. According to Energy and Water Subcommittee Chairman Peter Visclosky (D-IN), the bill would provide for “2,600 more
research personnel, including graduate students, to address major concerns over the availability of highly educated scientists and
engineers whose innovations drive economic growth.” Chairman Visclosky’s full press release is available
here. The full House
Appropriations Committee plans to mark up the bill on June 24. The Senate has not yet scheduled its own mark-up but will consider the bill
prior to the end of July.
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House and Senate Propose 302(b) Subcommittee Allocations
On June 13, the House Appropriations Committee released its fiscal year 2009 (FY2009) 302(b) appropriations subcommittee allocations for
fiscal year 2009. The 302(b) allocations follow the passage of the budget and set priorities for the various appropriations subcommittees
by recommending ceilings for each of them. The Committee proposes allocating $153.121 billion for the Labor, Health and Education
Appropriations Subcommittee, $56.858 billion for the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee, $33.265 for the Energy and
Water Appropriations Subcommittee, $20.623 billion for the Agriculture Subcommittee, and $72.729 billion for the Military Construction and
Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee. The 302(b) allocations to each of those subcommittees would constitute an increase over both
the fiscal year 2008 levels Congress enacted and the President’s FY2009 budget request. A chart with more details is available
here. The
full House Appropriations Committee was planning to consider the subcommittee allocations this week but postponed approving them until a
later date.
Then, yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its own 302(b) allocations for the Senate’s twelve appropriations bills.
Overall, the panel provided $1.013 trillion for the bills, which constitutes $21 billion more than the amount the President requested; the
Senate allocations also include $373 billion for domestic programs. The allocation for the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services,
Education and Related Agencies Appropriations bill is $153.1 billion, which is nearly $7.8 billion more than the President’s request.
Additionally, the 302(b) allocation for the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies is $57 billion, $4.2 billion more than
the President’s budget, and the allocation for the Senate Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies bill provides for
$73 billion, which is $3.6 billion more than the White House’s FY2009 spending proposal.
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