CONTENTS:
- Congress Returns from Recess to Begin FY19 Funding Deliberations
- Appropriations Action and Leadership Changes
- White House Working on Early-May Rescission Request
- House Science Subcommittees Hold Academic Espionage Hearing
CONGRESS RETURNS FROM RECESS TO BEGIN FY19 FUNDING DELIBERATIONS
Lawmakers returned this week from a two-week recess to begin FY19 funding negotiations. Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees held numerous FY19 agency hearings this week, including hearings on the NIH, NASA, USDA, and the Department of Energy. House Appropriations Committee hearings are listed here and Senate Appropriations Committee hearings are listed here.
Senate Republicans on Tuesday elected Richard Shelby (R-AL) to serve as the next Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman, a position formerly held by Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS). Senator Shelby will also serve as chair to the Defense subcommittee.
Other changes to Senate Appropriations leadership include the following: Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) will lead Commerce-Justice-Science; Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) will chair Military Construction-VA; Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) will lead Homeland Security; Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) will lead Financial Services; and Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) will become Legislative Branch chairman.
In case you missed it, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced earlier this week he will not seek reelection. Politico has more.
WHITE HOUSE WORKING ON EARLY-MAY RESCISSION REQUEST
Reports indicate the administration is considering how to cut some of the funding recently passed in the $1.3 trillion FY18 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which boosts defense and nondefense spending by $80 billion and $63 billion, respectively (AAU summary linked here).
The Budget Act of 1974 allows the president to submit a rescission resolution to Congress - within 45 days after a spending law has passed - identifying appropriations the president does not want to spend. Multiple appropriations rescissions can be provided to Congress in a single request and Congress may approve all, some, or none of the president's request. The Impoundment Control Act specifies House and Senate procedures for consideration of a rescission bill and limits Senate debate to 10 hours (i.e. no filibusters).
It is unclear which appropriations would be proposed for rescission. Prospects for congressional approval are also unclear. AAU will continue to closely monitor this for potential cuts to our research and higher education priorities.
The Hill has more.
HOUSE SCIENCE SUBCOMMITTEES HOLD ACADEMIC ESPIONAGE HEARING
The House Science Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Subcommittee on Research and Technology held a Wednesday hearing titled "Scholars or Spies: Foreign Plots Targeting America's Research and Development."
An overall theme that emerged is that although U.S. universities benefit from having international students and scholars on campus, there must be a balance between an open campus and national security. Some members expressed interest in requiring universities to put in place certain security measures or requiring the training of faculty/researchers to better identify espionage activities. Other members called for reestablishing the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board, a group organized by the FBI that has since been disbanded.
AAU, APLU, ACE, and COGR submitted a joint statement for the hearing record. The statement says, "Our member research universities share a vested interest with the government in ensuring that intellectual property, proprietary information, trade secrets, sensitive data, and other classified and/or otherwise controlled government information developed or housed at our institutions is not susceptible to academic exfiltration, espionage, or exploitation." It goes on to express that the four organizations welcome the opportunity to continue to work constructively and cooperatively with Congress and the major national security agencies to address key security concerns.
Please visit us at www.aau.edu and follow AAU on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.