FY 21 Appropriations
The FY 21 Appropriations process, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has started to move forward again, at least in the House. Recently, the various House Appropriations Subcommittees marked up all 12 of their spending bills, with the full Appropriations Committee also beginning markups. They are expected to finish this week with the full House passing a bill later in the month.
Some details are as follows:
- The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education subcommittee advanced a $196.5 billion measure that includes $73.5 billion for the Education department, a $716 million increase over FY21.
- $24.4 billion in supplemental appropriations to provide COVID-19-related relief.
- $150 increase of the maximum Pell Grant (to $6,495); a 2.5 percent increase to $1.2 billion for Federal Work Study.
- $630.46 million for the Institute of Education Sciences, a 1 percent increase.
- $47 billion for the NIH, an increase of $5.5 billion over FY20, including $5 billion in emergency funding to “to offset costs related to reductions in laboratory productivity resulting from interruptions or shutdowns of research activity” in FY20.
- The $71.5 billion Commerce-Justice-Science measure is a $1.7 billion decrease under FY20, mostly reflecting the completion of the 2020 census.
- $8.55 billion for the National Science Foundation, a 3.3 percent increase over FY20.
- $22.6 billion for NASA, the same as FY20, including: a 0.6 percent decrease to $7.097 billion for NASA science programs; a 4.5 percent increase to $819 million for NASA aeronautics programs; and flat funding for NASA space technology programs at $1.1 billion.
Unfortunately, there is no word yet on when the Senate may begin taking up their Appropriations bills. Given the limited days left in the Congressional calendar, and the fact that the Senate has not yet begun their work, it is unlikely that we will have a deal in place and an appropriations bill on the President’s desk before October 1, making a CR at a minimum through the end of the year all the more likely. We will continue to update the campus community as the FY21 Appropriations bill takes shape and what it will ultimately include.
