NEW DAY IN DC

OK, the 111th Congress has convened. Committee assignments are being doled out. A new president has been sworn in, twice, and the cabinet officials and czars are practically in place. So what now?

For us, follow the money. Policy issues will emerge thereafter.

So where are we?


FY '09--Appropriations has been put to bed. We just haven't seen the effects. Congress adjourned last year without officially funding the remaining part of the year--outside of defense and homeland security that is. Staff have finished the bill and a vote is expected probably after the stimulus package vote.

Stimulus--treat this as a supplemental to FY '09 even though we don't actually know what's in '09. And some of '10 too since funds will be spent later this year if a package is approved. So what's in it? The House Democrats are pushing an $800 billion plus package. A nice summary from the committee is found in their report language. This passed last night out of committee and expect on the floor next week. http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/RecoveryReport01-15-09.pdf

For higher education, one can break down the package this way:

1. Infrastructure


2. Research, S&T R&D


3. Financial Aid


4. General State support.

1. Infrastructure is mainly a $6 billion repair and renovation allocation to the states based on student full time equivalents. Some "green" requirements attached. No "new" construction. Other infrastructure projects are noted at NSF, NIH but these are mainly for existing approved projects that were simply not funded due to lack of money.

2. R&D. Lot's of direct and indirect stuff. The good folks at the AAAS put this together:

AAAS estimates that the just-released House version of the 2009 stimulus appropriations bills contains $13.3 billion in federal research and development (R&D) funding out of a total $550 billion in federal spending. Of that amount, $9.9 billion would go to the conduct of R&D and $3.4 billion for R&D facilities and capital equipment.

The three agencies highlighted in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 and President Bush's American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) would do extremely well in the stimulus appropriations bill. The National Science Foundation (NSF) would receive $3.0 billion; the Department of Energy's Office of Science (DOE OS) would receive $2.0 billion; and Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) would receive $520 million; nearly all of these supplementals are for R&D activities. The $5.5 billion allocated to these three agencies would finally put all three budgets on track to double over the next 7 to 10 years as envisioned in the ACI, America COMPETES, and Obama campaign promises.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would receive $3.9 billion in the stimulus appropriations bill, divided roughly evenly between research and infrastructure (construction and maintenance of facilities). The stimulus funding would turn around a NIH budget that has been in decline since 2004. The Department of Energy's (DOE) energy programs would also be a winner with $2.0 billion for R&D and related activities in renewable energy and energy conservation, with billions more for DOE in weatherization, loan guarantee, and clean energy demonstration funds. And the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would receive $600 million, mostly for R&D.

3. Financial Aid, from the report language: "Pell Grants provide need-based scholarships for undergraduate students. Under the economic recovery bill, the (discretionary) maximum Pell Grant would increase by $500, from $4,360 to $4,860 for the 2009-2010 academic year. With the additional $490 in mandatory funding, the total Pell maximum would be $5,350. The cost of a $500 Pell award increase, plus retiring prior year shortfalls, is now $15.6 billion over two years, based on interim updated CBO economic assumptions and applicant growth, as more students are applying and qualifying for more assistance. These additional funds will provide immediate financial relief to an additional 800,000 students..."

"College Work-Study provides funds to colleges, which must be matched with 25 percent non-
Federal funds, to support low and moderate-income undergraduate and graduate students who
work while attending school. In addition, each participating institution must use at least 7 percent of its Work-Study allocation for payments to students employed in community service activities, such as community-accessible childcare and assistance for disabled students. Providing increased funding would increase the number of students working in local communities. The additional funds in the economic recovery bill, when combined with institutional matching funds, will result in a total of $613 million that will be available to support an estimated 200,000 new students in fiscal years 2009 and 2010."

4. And last, general state support. $79 billion to the state to help their own budgets. Apportioned by population. 61% must go to K-12 and HE. Each governor must request the funds to receive the allocation.


The senate is working on their own package.

STAY TUNED!