FY2022 Budget/Appropriations

The Administration plans to release an outline of its fiscal year 2022 discretionary budget request on April 1. The budget won’t contain the program by program funding levels that will come when the full budget is released in a month or two. As is usual in the first year of a new administration, it takes a while after the inauguration to produce a full budget request. We expect to see discretionary totals for each agency and a discussion of some of the key initiatives. The goal is to give some guidance for the Appropriations Committees in beginning to craft their twelve appropriations bills.

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) announced member request guidelines for FY2022 programmatic, language-based and Community Project Funding appropriations requests. The announcement includes a general overview of the submission process and “Dear Colleague” letters for each of the 12 appropriations subcommittees. In addition, the House Republican caucus voted to participate in House Democrats’ plans to allow each Member of Congress to submit up to ten “community project funding” requests (also known as appropriations earmarks). The requests have specified limits and transparency requirements. Congress banned earmarks ten years ago, and the Senate hasn’t said whether it will participate this year or not.

Double Maximum Pell Grant Advocacy

UF joined AAU, APLU, ACE and nearly 900 colleges and universities on a letter urging members of Congress to double the maximum Pell Grant award to $12,990 and permanently index the award to inflation to ensure its value does not decrease over time. The letter says that this would “boost college enrollment, improve graduation rates, and honor the history and value of these grants as the keystone federal investment in college affordability.” Doubling the maximum Pell Grant is a top priority for UF and the higher education community. The higher education associations are working on a broader campaign with The Institute for College Access & Success, UNCF, and the Student Aid Alliance to help

COVID Supplemental 

American Rescue Plan Act 

On March 11, President Biden signed H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), into law. The $1.9 trillion package includes $39.6 billion for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), $600 million in funding for the National Science Foundation, $135 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and $100 million for the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) to carry out research related to addressing learning loss caused by the coronavirus. Another key priority is $350 billion for State and Local Coronavirus Relief Funds, with 60 percent of funds reserved for states and 40 percent for local governments. Florida is estimated to receive $17.337 billon, with State Government receiving $10.31 billion. In a positive change from the CARES Act, these new funds include a broad definition of allowable uses, to “replace revenue that was lost, delayed or decreased as determined based on projections of the government as of January 27, 2020, as a result of such emergency address negative economic impacts of such emergency.”

Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund

University of Florida is estimated to receive $86.8 million under HEERF III. Similar to the CARES Act, institutions would be required to use at least half of the new funds for emergency financial aid grants to students.

On March 19, the Department of Education (ED) released new guidance on HEERF Grants for all three rounds. The guidance includes documentation detailing steps the department has taken to ensure HEERF funds can be used retroactively to the beginning of the pandemic on March 13, 2020, a resource showing how to document and calculate lost revenue (including “supported research”), and an updated HEERF II FAQ document. The updated guidance signals ED's intent for institutions to have as much flexibility as possible when using their HEERF funds so they may address the financial impacts of COVID on their students and infrastructure to the fullest extent possible.

Health

Medicare Sequester Moratorium Extension 

On March 25, The Senate voted 90-2 to pass an amended H.R. 1868 that would eliminate the 2% across- the-board cut to all Medicare payments, known as sequestration, until the end of 2021. To pay for the change, the bill would increase the fiscal year 2030 sequester cuts.

The 2% Medicare sequester moratorium was extended on Dec. 27, 2020, by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 but is due to expire on March 31, 2021. The House is expected to take up the Senate-passed bill the week of April 13 when it returns to Washington D.C. It is expected that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will hold the Medicare claims until the bill is signed into law as it has done in the past.

Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2021

Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.), and Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2021. The legislation would provide 14,000 new Medicare graduate medical education (GME) slots over 7 years. The bill builds on the GME provisions included in the Consolidated Appropriations At, 2021 (P.L. 116-260) that provided 1,000 Medicare-supported GME positions — the first such increase in nearly 25 years. Upon introduction, the AAMC issued a press release in support of the legislation.

In determining which hospitals would receive slots, CMS would be required to consider the likelihood of a teaching hospital filling positions and would be required to distribute at least 10% of the slots to the following categories of hospitals: Hospitals in rural areas; Hospitals training over their current GME caps; Hospitals in states with new medical schools or new branch campuses; and Hospitals that serve areas designated as health professional shortage areas (HPSAs).

Immigration 

American Dream and Promise Act of 2021

On March 18, the House approved H.R. 6, the “American Dream and Promise Act of 2021,” which will provide permanent protections and a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients. The reintroduction of H.R. 6 is part of the strategy to further prioritize efforts to secure permanent citizenship for Dreamers alongside the U.S. Citizenship Act, the comprehensive immigration bill introduced in February. Along with the Durbin-Graham Dream Act (S. 261) in the Senate. Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) has said he would like his committee to consider the House-passed bill in the spring and begin negotiations with Republicans on immigration legislation soon; however, Senate Republicans—including Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Cornyn (R- TX)—have already said Senate consideration of immigration will be unlikely with the current migrant crisis at the southern border.

Research 

National Science Foundation Reauthorization 

On March 26, the House Science Committee leaders (Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Lucas, Research Subcommittee Chair Stevens, and Rank Member Waltz) introduced the NSF for the Future Act, an NSF reauthorization bill for FY22-26. The Committee has provided a summary, section-by-section and bill text here.

The bill proposes to double the National Science Foundation budget over five years and add a directorate to the agency focused on “societal challenges.” The committee views the bill as an alternative to the Endless Frontier Act, championed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) which proposes a massive technology-focused directorate to NSF.

In setting up the new directorate, the bill would require the NSF director to select up to five focus areas and periodically refresh the list. During the selection process, the director must consider the following “societal challenges”: Climate change and environmental sustainability; Global competitiveness in critical technologies; Cybersecurity; National security STEM education and workforce; and Social and economic inequality. Other provisions similarly echo the Endless Frontier Act, includes specifying that the new directorate should fund a broader array of entities than NSF typically supports, and another aiming to prevent the new directorate from siphoning funds from other parts of the agency.

The introduction of the NSF for the Future Act comes days after Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) reintroduced Securing American Leadership in Science and Technology Act of 2021 or (SALSTA) that proposes doubling the budgets of several science agencies, including NSF, the Department of Energy Office of Science, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) over 10 years. The bill identifies competition with China as one of two principal motivators for increasing federal research budgets, alongside climate change mitigation, and also includes broad policy updates for each agency.

The NSF for the Future Act and SALSTA could be candidates for inclusion in a broader legislative package focused on China and innovation. Senate Majority Leader Schumer has been working on legislation that takes aim to counter China’s rising global power and develop a bipartisan competitiveness policy package centered around an updated version of the Endless Frontier Act, bolstering U.S. manufacturing and supply chains, among other measures.

MISC 

President Biden's Title IX Executive Order 

On March 8, President Biden issued an executive order (EO) on Title IX titled “Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity.” The EO directs Secretary Miguel Cardona to review Title IX policy changes promulgated by the Trump administration. Within 100 days, in consultation with the Attorney General, Secretary Cardona shall provide his findings to the White House Office of Management and Budget. As the Trump administration action went through the rulemaking process, the expectation is efforts to substantively modify/repeal the final Title IX rule will similarly need to go through rulemaking as prescribed by the Administrative Procedures Act.