Spending Bill Brings Good News For Research
SPENDING BILL BRINGS GOOD NEWS FOR RESEARCH
Congress is expected to approve a comprehensive spending bill today that will boost federal research funding and maintain support for key student aid programs for the remainder of fiscal year 2016. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the measure early next week. Highlights are below, all numbers are compared to fiscal year 2015:
- National Institutes of Health: $32 billion, a 6.6% increase
- National Science Foundation: $7.46 billion, a 1.6% increase
- Department of Energy Office of Science: $5.35 billion, a 5.5% increase
- NASA Science: $5.59 billion, a 6.6% increase
- Department of Defense basic research: $2.31 billion, a 1.4% increase
- National Endowment for the Humanities: $147.9 million, a 0.99% increase and the agency’s first funding increase in six years
- Institute for Education Sciences: $618 million, a 7.7% increase
See a summary
STUDENT AID CHANGES COMING SOON
- Perkins Loans: Congress unanimously passed a measure this week that will revive the Perkins Loan Program, which expired earlier this fall. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill, which would allow undergraduates to continue receiving Perkins loans through the 2017-2018 school year and graduate students to receive them through 2016-2017.
- Loan Repayment: The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday a Revised Pay as You Earn Plan (REPAYE), which will allow all student loan borrowers to cap their payments at 10% of their monthly income and have student loan balances forgiven after twenty years of making payments. These options were previously only available to new borrowers.
- Pell Grants and Federal Work-Study: The comprehensive spending bill under consideration by Congress will allow the maximum Pell Grant award for low-income students to rise by $140 to $5,915 for the 2016-2017 school year, and will maintain the current $989.7 million funding level for the Federal Work-Study program.
TAX BILL WILL HELP STUDENTS, UNIVERSITIES
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a tax package yesterday that makes permanent an enhanced version of the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides qualified taxpayers with a tax credit for a portion of their college tuition. The bill will also make permanent the IRA Charitable Rollover, which incentivizes individuals to donate money from their retirement accounts to charities. The U.S. Senate is expected to pass the measure shortly, and President Barack Obama has indicated he will sign it into law.
Learn more
NIH RELEASES NEW STRATEGIC PLAN
At the request of Congress, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released an agency-wide, five-year strategic plan on Wednesday. The plan has four objectives: advance opportunities in fundamental science, health promotion, and treatments; set priorities based on scientific opportunity, disease burden, and other factors; enhance stewardship through biomedical workforce initiatives and reducing administrative burden; and “managing for results” by measuring and evaluating NIH accomplishments. The plan is designed to compliment the strategic plans developed by individual NIH institutes and centers.
Read the plan
A NOTE TO OUR READERS
With Congress heading towards adjournment, Beltway BUzz will take a break from publication until January. BU Federal Relations will continue to track developments in Washington, D.C. We wish you happy holidays!