Federal Appropriations Process in Full Swing on Capitol Hill

June 3, 2019
By Federal Relations

The Federal appropriations process is in full swing on Capitol Hill. UA Federal Relations has been working with Congress to ensure University of Arizona priorities are well-supported in the FY20 budget. In the last two weeks, we’ve seen movement on a number of university policy requests in the U.S. House of Representatives. Of particular note:

  • The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Precision Medicine Initiative received a $124 million plus-up over FY19 funding; the University of Arizona Health Sciences and Banner Health previously received a $9 million award from this initiative for the All of US Research Program to improve patient treatment and prevention strategies.
  • The U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies reported was released in support of quantum information science and the Quantum Initiative.
  • Title VI grants awarded by the International and Foreign Language Education program within the U.S. Department of Education received their first significant funding increases since 2011. The UA has three Title VI centers funded through this account.
  • The U.S. House Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies provided a $3.5 million boost to the Water Resources Research Act and $4 million to establish a Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center.
  • The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) reported language favorable to a number of our interests in telescopes and hypersonics research.

While this is great news on a number of UA legislative priorities, we recognize many of these increases are possible because the House did not adhere to budget caps as a result of the Budget Control Act (BCA). The Senate has confirmed their budgets will be constrained by BCA caps unless legislation is enacted to remove them—unlikely at this stage.

Earlier this month, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Barbara Barrett to serve as the 25th Secretary of the U.S. Air Force. Barrett, originally from Paradise Valley, is a former U.S. ambassador to Finland under President George W. Bush and former senior adviser to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. She served as chairman of the State Department’s Women’s Economic Empowerment Working Group, the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce’s Export Conference. The University of Arizona receives substantial research funding from the Air Force and engage frequently with the Secretary’s office to ensure our research missions are aligned. 

Heather Wilson, current Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, is stepping down to become President of the University of Texas-El Paso.