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Filtering posts by topic: Appropriations

Slow but Steady Start for FY22 Appropriations Process

A president's budget request for the coming fiscal year is typically released in early February and marks the beginning of the appropriations process on Capitol Hill. However, during presidential transition years the PBR is usually delayed by several weeks.

Appropriators on Capitol Hill are moving forward with the FY22 appropriations process, despite the lack of a full budget request from the White House. Over the last few weeks, the House Appropriations subcommittees have held hearings with federal agency leaders, including from the National Science Foundation, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and Transportation. Additionally, individual members are reviewing funding recommendations from stakeholders. The Senate pace is a bit behind the House. However, appropriations have heard from NSF and Defense officials. 

The White House has released a budget outline or "skinny budget" and indicated that a full budget request should follow in May. Research and student financial aid line-items detailed in the budget outline are captured below.

FSU is working with SUS counterparts and national higher education and research advocacy groups to engage the Hill on FY22 appropriations. Individual faculty and staff who have line-items within the budget that they would like to discuss with the Florida delegation are asked to contact Federal Relations so that efforts can be coordinated and appropriately reported on Lobbying Disclosure Act quarterly submissions. 

Research Account
Dollars in Millions
FY20 FY21 FY20 – FY21 % Change FY22 PBR EST/TBD FY22 PBR – FY21 Enacted % Change EST/TBD FY22 Preliminary APLU Request* (>) FY22 APLU Request – FY21 Enacted % Change
Department of Defense, Science & Technology (6.1-6.3) 16,074 16,873 +4.97%     17,885 +6.00%
Department of Defense, S&T, Basic Research (6.1) 2,603 2,671 +2.61%     2,831 +5.99%
Department of Defense, DARPA 3,458 3,501 1.24%     3,712 +6.03%
ED, Institute of Education Sciences 623.5 642.5 +3.05%     700 +8.95%
Energy, Office of Science 7,000 7,026 +0.37%  7,400  +5.32% 7,700 +9.59%
Energy, ARPA-E 425 427 +0.47%     500 +17.10%
EPA, Office of Science 716 729.3 +1.86%     773 +5.99%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Science Mission Directorate 7,139 7,301 +2.27%     9,000 +23.27%
NASA, Aeronautics Research Directorate 784 828.7 +5.70% 915 +10.41%  900 +8.60%
NASA, Space Technology 1,100 1,100 0.00%  1,400 +27.27%  1,500 +36.36%
National Endowment for the Humanities 162.3 167.5 +3.20%     225 +34.33%
National Institute of Food Agriculture, Ag. and Food Research Initiative 425 435 +2.35%     470 +8.05%
National Institutes of Health 41,700 42,900 +2.88%  51,000  +18.88% 46,111 +7.48%
National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), Manufacturing Extension Partnerships 146 150 +2.74%  275  +83.33% 165 +10.00%
NIST, National Network for Manufacturing Innovation 16 16.5 +3.13%     40 +142.42%
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Oceanic and Atmospheric Research 548 570.6 +4.12%     640 +12.16%
NOAA, Sea Grant 67 69.5 +3.73%     107.9 +55.25%
National Science Foundation 8,280 8,487 +2.50%  10,200 +20.18%  10,000 +17.83%
Jonathan Nurse

President Biden Signs American Rescue Plan

Following final congressional approval, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law. Although the Senate made some changes to the initial House-approved version, the provisions relevant to public institutions of higher education remained the same.

The new law sends $39.6 billion to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, which was initially created one year ago by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The FSU HEERF allocation is expected to be roughly $80 million, with half distributed to students and the remainder utilized for institutional needs related to the pandemic. Additionally, $350 billion was included to help state and local governments stabilize their budgets following pandemic-related losses and expenses. Notably absent from the package was $26 billion in research relief, requested by the advocacy community to assist projects that were sidelined by pandemic. Research relief resources will remain a topic of discussion with the Hill as an infrastructure package is assembled and the FY22 appropriations process moves forward.

Federal Relations Summary of Higher Education Provisions 

Jonathan Nurse

House Leadership Advancing Next COVID-19 Relief Bill

Today, staff to House leadership shared text of the next phase of COVID-19 financial relief. Their package includes $39B for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, as requested by the president, which would offset some COVID-19 related expenses at FSU and at institutions across the country.

The HEERF figure is well short of the $97B need outlined by higher education advocates. The package also will likely fail to directly address research losses. However, the included support for student and institutional needs related to the crisis is appreciated.

If the current dynamic holds, a final bill could reach President Biden by mid-March. 

Committee on Education & Labor Fact Sheet and Section-by-Section Summary

Jonathan Nurse

Federal Update Session Slides

Today, the FSU Office of Federal Relations provided an update on initial and anticipated actions of the Biden Administration and 117th Congress. ... Read More

Jonathan Nurse

Pres-elect Proposes Additional COVID-19 Relief

Yesterday, President-elect Biden released the outline of a new $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal. Within the higher education realm, an additional $35 billion is included for public universities ... Read More

Jonathan Nurse

COVID-19 Relief Efforts to be Revived

Today, as the results of the races for the presidency and control of Congress start to come into focus, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) expressed support for reviving efforts to approve a Phase IV COVID-19 recovery bill. ... Read More

Jonathan Nurse

Final FY20 Budget Within Reach

Congress is poised to send President Trump final appropriations bills to fund the federal government for Fiscal Year 2020. The bills, emerging nearly three months after the start of the fiscal year, were cheered by much of the higher education advocacy community. ... Read More

Jonathan Nurse

FY20 Begins with Temporary Funding Measure

Just ahead of the October 1 start of the new federal fiscal year, Congress approved and President Trump signed a continuing resolution that provides temporary funding for federal government operations. ... Read More

Jonathan Nurse

FSU Faculty and Staff Push for FY20 Funding on Capitol Hill

Over the last few weeks, FSU Federal Relations welcomed faculty/staff to DC for funding and policy meetings on Capitol Hill. Members of the FSU community visiting the Hill included: Director of Financial Aid Somnath Chatterjee, Drs. Barbara Foorman and John Hughes who lead the FSU-based Regional Education Lab Southeast, Dr. Teng Ma from the Department of Medical and Biomedical Engineering, Dr. Richard Liang who heads the High Performance Materials Institute, and Vice President for Research Dr. Gary Ostrander. ... Read More

Laura Hall