September 24, 2009
In this issue:
Previous Updates
Currently in Washington
This week in Washington several issues important to the UT System community took center stage. On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee began its markup of the health care overhaul proposal introduced last week by Committee Chairman Max Baucus. Most of the dialogue about the proposal surrounds the plan’s affordability. While the $774 billion price tag of the bill is well below the $900 billion level set by President Obama, critics from both sides of the aisle have criticized the chairman’s mark for an insurance mandate provision that could prove costly for individuals required to purchase healthcare coverage. The American Medical Association has also criticized the proposal for not including a permanent Medicare physician fix. The committee markup of the proposal will continue through the end of the week.
Fueled by the approaching September 30th end-of-fiscal-year deadline, Senate Majority Leader Reid has urged the Senate to make progress on its remaining FY10 appropriations bills. The Senate is currently considering amendments to the $32.1 billion FY10 Interior-Environment Appropriations bill and will next consider either the FY10 Defense spending bill or Military-Construction-VA spending bill.
Action in the House this week has focused on consideration of a number of measures under suspension of the rules, including a defense production reauthorization bill and an extension of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The House is also expected to consider a short-term continuing resolution to sustain funding for federal programs beyond the Oct 1st beginning of the new fiscal year. It remains unclear if House and Senate conference negotiations on the 5 appropriations bill that have passed both chambers will be completed before the new fiscal year. An omnibus package may be considered for bills that Congress is unable to pass separately.
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Top Stories
UT System to host NIH Grants Workshop
The UT System Office of Federal Relations, UT Dallas, UT Arlington, and UT Southwestern Medical Center will host an NIH Grants Workshop on October 16, 2009, at the University of Texas at Dallas campus in Richardson, TX. We invite you to join us! Please feel free to pass this invite along to UT and non-UT friends and family. NIH staff will be present to discuss best practices for conducting business with their institutes, the technical processes of their granting offices, and research funding opportunities available to UT faculty and staff. The workshop is open to faculty and staff from UT System institutions, non-UT System institutions, and the public. You may register by clicking on the registration icon to the left and filling out the online registratino form.
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Obama Innovation Initiative
On Monday President Obama announced a new plan to make additional investments in federal support for scientific research and development. While no specific timeline has been set for the plan’s implementation, the Obama Innovation Strategy aims to double the R&D budgets of the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology. The plan also identified several scientific fields of study, such as nanotechnology and personalized medicine, as high priority areas of investments and proposed that overall federal support for scientific R&D should be increased to more than three percent of GDP.
The fact sheets and white paper for the innovation strategy can be found here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/sept_20__innovation_whitepaper_final.pdf
http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/innovation_one-pager_9-20-09.pdf
http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/innovation_three-pager_9-20-09.pdf
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Appropriations
While the House has completed all 12 of its appropriations bills, the Senate has passed only 5 with less than 2 weeks until the end of the fiscal year. This week the Senate takes up consideration of the Interior-Environment bill and is likely to move next to consideration of the $636 billion Defense appropriations bill.
At the end of this week the House is expected to consider a continuing resolution to serve as a short-term stopgap funding measure until a House and Senate conference on each of the FY10 appropriations bills can be held. The CR will possibly be attached to the FY10 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill currently before a conference committee and could be voted on as soon as Thursday. The higher education community is working with conference committee members on the FY10 Energy and Water appropriations bill to highlight the importance that the bill include strong support for DOE’s energy innovation hubs and the Re-ENERGYSE initiative. A conference on the FY10 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill is likely to meet Thursday, while conferences on the agriculture and energy and water measures are possible this week as well.
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Education
Student Loan Reform
The House of Representatives approved the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221) last Thursday by a vote of 253 to 172. The bill would terminate the Federal Family Education Loan program (FFELP) and move all new subsidized loans into the Federal Direct Loan program. This shift would save an estimated $87 billion over 10 years that would be directed to increased Pell Grant awards, an expansion of the Perkins loan program, as well as the creation of a new College Access and Completion Innovation Fund designed to support new approaches to improving higher education access and student graduation rates. Savings also would be used to provide $10 billion for the President’s community college initiative; $8 billion to improve early childhood education; $4.1 billion for modernization and repair of school and college facilities; and $10 billion for deficit reduction. Additionally, the bill would simplify the federal student financial aid form.
Institutions of higher education have expressed concern over a provision in the bill that would require institutions participating in the Perkins Loan Program to pay interest on behalf of their student borrowers while they are in school or to pay new participation fees. Another area of concern is a provision in the House version that limits higher education institutions to compete for only 25 percent of the funds allocated under the new College Access and Completion Innovation Fund, while the remaining money would be retained for state governments.
Click here for more information on the bill.
White House Task Force on College Affordability
The White House Task Force on Middle Class Families has released three reports in its effort to find better and more efficient ways to make college more affordable and accessible to middle class families.
The first report takes a look at “529 plans” which are offered by states to allow families to save for college similar to ROTH IRAs where contributions are made with after-tax income, returns amass tax free and distributions can be for qualified education expenses tax-free. The second report recommends ways that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can be streamlined by removing unnecessary and difficult questions, adapting the form to individual students, and allowing tax return information to automatically be entered into the online FAFSA. The third report takes a look at barriers that limit college access for students including, inequality, mobility, costs, and debt.
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Health
Health Care Reform
The Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus (D-MT) finally unveiled the fifth health care plan that will be considered by Congress. Earlier three House and one Senate committee already reported out health care legislation that includes the controversial “public option” plan to compete alongside private insurance plans. Senator Baucus was part of the “Gang of Six” who are seeking a bipartisan approach to health care reform, yet no Republican has stated that he or she will support the Finance Committee’s bill. This bill does not include a “public option” but instead authorizes nonprofit health cooperatives. Other provisions require an individual mandate that everyone obtain health insurance; expand and standardize Medicaid at 133 percent of federal poverty level; place caps on the out-of-pocket costs; ban denial of health care coverage due to preexisting conditions; and create state-based Internet exchanges. The Senate Finance Committee is currently marking up the legislation this week. After the first day of the committee’s markup, 500 amendments have been introduced, many aimed to address concerns over the bill's affordability. Modifications to the original bill include a 40 percent excise tax rate on expensive plans, rather than a 35 percent tax in the original bill; increases an annual fee on insurance companies by $700 million to $6.7 billion; and a reduction in the penalty for families who earn more than 300 percent of the poverty level but do not buy insurance as mandated from $3,800 to $1,900.
Click here to learn more about the Finance Committee Bill called “America’s Healthy Future Act”
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Senator Harkin Take the Helm Of Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has accepted the chairmanship of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, replacing the late Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA). Harkin received the position when fellow Democrat, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), turned the position down. Senator Dodd was next in line after Senator Kennedy but decided to keep his chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee instead. Senate rules prevent a member from heading two committees. Senator Harkin will look to carry on the legacy of Senator Kennedy, who dedicated his career to issues of the economy, education, and of course health care. Harkin will have to give up his chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee, which is hugely important to his home state. The Midwest Democrat said he plans to stay involved in the committee's work.
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Science & Technology
Climate Change Legislation
Last week Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid suggested that the Senate’s focus on health care, and possibly the Obama administration's plan to overhaul regulation of the financial sector, might push climate legislation into next year. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee members from both parties have publicly backed the idea of separately moving an energy bill that, at its core, requires electric utilities nationwide to have 15 percent of their sales stem from renewable energy sources by 2021.
Meanwhile, Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.) and Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Ma.), for the first time since the summer break, continued their weekly meetings with several swing-vote senators on a cap-and-trade strategy. Boxer and Kerry have not yet publicly said how they plan to deal with the issue of allocating cap-and-trade emission credits, namely how much is given away and how much is sold through an auction. Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mt.), whose committee also has jurisdiction on that issue, has been preoccupied with leading the healthcare talks. Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ar.) has stated publicly she does not support the House-passed climate-change bill, claiming it places a disproportionate share of the burden on rural and poor areas. Lincoln said she will not support a climate change bill in the Senate if it is similar to the House-passed bill.
The White House wants Congress to finish a cap-and-trade plan soon, but regardless of whether climate change gets debated in the full Senate this year, U.S. climate talks with top developing nations are entering a critical stage; the United States this week is hosting the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate at the State Department, which includes China, India and Brazil.
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Clean Vehicle R&D
Last week, legislation to expand federal research on green vehicles won overwhelming House approval (312-114), despite some concerns about costs raised by Republican lawmakers. The bipartisan Advanced Vehicle Technology Act (H.R. 3246) would supplement the Energy Department’s existing Vehicle Technologies program by developing a more comprehensive program, avoiding duplicate efforts, and studying a broad range of materials, technologies and processes that could reduce car and truck petroleum usage and related emissions.
The act authorizes $550 million per year for the next five years for vehicle technology programs. It would allow the Energy Department to spend up to $200 million more each year on research and development for advanced-technology vehicles and auto parts. About $350 million is already spent annually on vehicle R&D. Included in that is $200 million for medium and heavy duty commercial vehicles, $20 million for a pilot program that involves construction and agricultural vehicles, and $300 million toward diverse passenger and commercial vehicle technologies, such as the hybridization or full electrification of vehicle systems to reduce gasoline use.
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Cyber Security
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME) held hearings last week to explore the growing threat of cyber crime to small and mid-sized businesses. Lieberman and Collins are currently drafting legislation that will address this and other cyber security issues. Meanwhile another panel with jurisdiction over the issue, the Senate Commerce Committee, has postponed action on broader cyber security legislation. As aides retool key provisions and the bill's co-sponsors, Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), continue their prominent roles in the high-stakes healthcare debate, it appears unlikely that a hearing on the measure will happen this month. Separately, the Homeland Security Department has already conducted two large-scale drills to test the national Web response and is planning a third for September 2010.
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NAS Symposium on Scientific Data
The National Academies of Science will hold a public symposium on September 24 to discuss Obama Administration policies and programs that aim to ensure that federal policies are based on the best and most unbiased scientific information. The NAS Board on Research and Data Information is hosting the session, which will feature presentations by high-level Administration officials, followed by a panel discussion among those speakers and members of the Board.
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Recovery Act
Solicitations
News & Highlights
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Recently introduced legislation
For a listing of recent legislation sponsored by members of the Texas delegation, visit the Recent Legislation page of our Web Site.
To view Roll Call votes recently passed legislation, click here: (House, Senate)
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