Appropriations Process Gets Underway
BU IN DC
Vesko Garcevic of the Pardee School of Global Studies testified on Russia’s role in global elections before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on June 28.
APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS GETS UNDERWAY
Congress has commenced with crafting legislation to fund the federal government for fiscal year (FY) 2018 in the last several weeks, with the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee passing a number of spending bills. This includes some key priorities for the research community:
- DOE Office of Science: would receive $5.39 billion, the same as in FY 2017; however the bill also proposes eliminating ARPA-E
- National Science Foundation: would receive $7.34 billion, a $133 million decrease from FY 2017
- NASA Science: would receive $5.86 billion, a $93.6 million increase over FY 2017
- DOD Science and Technology programs: would receive $13.8 billion, a $211.5 million decrease from FY 2017
It is important to note that the Senate Appropriations Committee has only taken up one of their FY 2018 spendings bills so far, and does not expect to make significant progress until after the August recess. Additionally, both chambers are hoping to broker a deal that will avoid exceeding budgetary caps in force for FY 2018. With significant negotiations still needed, it appears unlikely that a final budget will be in place when the fiscal year expires on September 30.
BUZZ BITS…
- President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Paul Dabbar as undersecretary of science at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which includes oversight of the Office of Science. Mr Dabbar is currently a managing director at J.P Morgan and serves on DOE’s Environmental Management Advisory Board.
- 18 state attorneys general, led by Massachusetts, filed a lawsuit to force the Department of Education to implement its borrower defense regulations, which allows students who were defrauded by their institutions to discharge their federal student loans. The Department suspended the rules last month and intends to rewrite them this fall.
- The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a Request for Information on cybersecurity, specifically seeking information and comments “about current, planned, or recommended education and training programs aimed at strengthening the U.S. cybersecurity workforce.”
EVENTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
TandemNSI, an organization that brings together innovators and national security agencies, is hosting a breakfast on July 19 in Boston with the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), a Department of Defense (DOD) organization aimed at partnering with small businesses and non-traditional defense contractors. The event will highlight emerging technologies of interest to the defense enterprise, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics, additive manufacturing, biologics and wearables. This is a good opportunity for faculty to interact with DOD officials and other government agencies in the national security space.