{"id":18199,"date":"2021-07-12T16:35:23","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T16:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=18199"},"modified":"2021-07-12T16:35:23","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T16:35:23","slug":"policy-news-july-12-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2021\/07\/12\/policy-news-july-12-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy News: July 12, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this issue:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

House Passes NSF and DOE Reauthorization Bills<\/a><\/strong>
\nNSF for the Future Act increases authorizing funding for the National Science Foundation to $17.9 billion by 2026.<\/p>\n

House Appropriations Committee Proposes $9.63 billion in FY 2022 in FY 2022<\/a><\/strong>
\nBill includes an 11% increase for NSF\u2019s research and related activities account.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/a>
\n<\/strong>House approves transportation and water infrastructure bill.<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack names new Forest Service chief.<\/p>\n

States<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Maine bans offshore wind in state waters.<\/p>\n

International<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Canada and EU pass climate legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Federal Register opportunities<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

House Passes NSF and DOE Science Reauthorization Bills\u00a0<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nThe full House passed the NSF for the Future Act (H.R. 2225<\/a>) and the Department of Energy Science for Future (H.R. 3593<\/a>) with wide bipartisan support.<\/p>\n

Both bills are authorizing legislation that give appropriators permission to provide funding amounts, but the appropriators may choose to decrease yearly funding. Additionally, the bills provide guidance for agency policies.<\/p>\n

The bills reauthorize the Department of Energy Office of Science and the National Science Foundation through 2026. The NSF for the Future Act is the House\u2019s response to the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer\u2019s U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S. 1260<\/a>), formerly known as the Endless Frontier Act. The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act passed the full Senate in early June. The House NSF bill creates a new Science and Engineering Solutions Directorate within NSF and authorizes funding for this directorate at $1 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2022. The Directorate\u2019s budget reaches $3.4 billion in FY 2026. In total, the NSF for the Future Act increases authorized funding for NSF to $17.9 billion by FY 2026. The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act increases authorized NSF funding to $29 billion by FY 2026.<\/p>\n

The Department of Energy Science for the Future Act increases recommended funding levels for the Office of Science to $11.1 billion by 2026. Congress funded the DOE Office of Science at $7 billion in FY 2021.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers will have to reconcile the differences between the House reauthorization bills and the Senate bill in the coming months. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is also considering its own China policy bill, titled the Ensuring American Global Leadership and Engagement Act (EAGLE Act, H.R. 3524<\/a>) to address some of the China provisions in the Senate bill. Meanwhile, House Democrats Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Judy Chu (D-CA) held a\u00a0House Oversight Committee Roundtable<\/a>\u00a0criticizing the Department of Justice\u2019s China Initiative for its overreach, which seeks to stop Chinese espionage in U.S.-funded research.<\/p>\n

House Appropriations Committee Proposes $9.63 billion for NSF in FY 2022<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nAmid competing House and Senate proposals to increase funding levels for the National Science Foundation, the House Appropriations Committee released its fiscal year (FY) 2022 spending bill covering NSF, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.<\/p>\n

The bill includes $9.63 billion for NSF, a 13% increase over last fiscal year. The Biden administration requested $10.2 billion for NSF, a nearly 20% increase over the FY2021 funding level of $8.5 billion. ESA and the scientific community\u00a0requested<\/a>\u00a0a similar amount in letters and meetings with lawmakers. The agency\u2019s research and related activities account receives $7.7 billion, an 11% increase.<\/p>\n

In recent years, NSF has received modest increases, falling short of amounts requested by the scientific community.<\/p>\n

The bill includes $25 billion for NASA, including $7.97 billion for the Science Directorate and $2.25 billion for earth science.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers include $6.26 billion for NOAA, a 19% increase over FY 2021 levels.<\/p>\n

Separately, the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee proposed $7.32 billion for the Department of Energy Office of Science, a 4% increase.<\/p>\n

The Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee will now hold a mark-up this bill this afternoon to advance the bill to the full House Appropriations Committee.<\/p>\n

House Democratic leadership plans to pass all appropriations bills by the end of July. The Senate still has not yet released any FY 2022 funding bills. Fiscal year 2022 begins Oct. 1, 2021. It is likely that Congress will pass a temporary stop gap measure to buy more time for funding negotiations and avert a government shutdown.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nInfrastructure:\u00a0<\/strong>The full House\u00a0approved<\/a>\u00a0a $715 billion reauthorization bill for transportation and water infrastructure programs, setting the chamber\u2019s priorities amid negotiations between Congress and the White House about an infrastructure package. The bill includes $400 million for wildlife crossings, $2.5 billion for state water pollution programs and $1 billion for municipalities to implement treatment standards for PFAS and other emerging containments. The Senate could pass its own infrastructure bill leading the two chambers to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate infrastructure bills in conference committee. Only two House Republicans voted for the House bill.<\/p>\n

The full Senate could vote on an infrastructure bill as early as the week of July 19.<\/p>\n

Appropriations:<\/strong>\u00a0The House Appropriations Committee advanced spending bills funding the Departments of Interior, Agriculture and EPA. The full House is expected to take up these bills later this month. The bills provide large increases for non-defense, discretionary programs, including ecological science programs.<\/p>\n