·
$2.8 billion increase from fiscal 2017
for opioid addiction prevention and treatment;
·
$307 million more than the administration
requested to combat potential midterm election cyber-meddling, plus
another $380 million for election security grants;
·
$2.37 billion, or 80 percent year-over-year
increase, for Child Care Development Block Grants;
·
$10 billion in new infrastructure funding, including
a $2.55 billion increase for the federal highway program, a $1 billion increase
for so-called TIGER grants, which fund innovative road, transit, maritime and
road projects, and $600 million for rural broadband deployment;
·
a $1.34 billion increase for the Census Bureau to
help prepare for the 2020 count, twice the amount requested by the
Administration;
·
EPA is flat-funded over the prior fiscal year at $8 billion,
avoiding draconian reductions initially proposed by the Administration;
·
$350 million to help forgive student loans for
graduates who take lower-paid government jobs; and
·
$2 billion for Veterans Affairs hospital maintenance
and construction projects.
Negotiators have
apparently dropped about "100 poison pill" policy riders, including a
proposal to bar federal funds for Planned Parenthood.
Congress is now
racing to pass this omnibus bill before the March 23 deadline. Press reports indicate that the White House
has signed off on the bill. Congress is scheduled
to begin a two week recess starting on Monday.
This will likely help the leadership in both Bodies ensure the bill is
passed and sent to the President for signature as soon as possible.
FY18 Omnibus Includes Spending Increases
for Key Science
Agencies and Their Programs
For the National Science Foundation (NSF) the
bill provides a total of $7.8 billion which is $295 million or 4% over the FY17
level. For Research and Related
Activities, the bill provides $6.3 billion which represents a 5% increase over
FY17. The accompanying statement to the
bill includes the following language with respect to marine seismology, “The
agreement reiterates the importance of ensuring that NSF-funded marine research
vessels with unique seismic capabilities remain available to the academic
marine geology and geophysics community to support a variety of important
undersea research efforts.”
The Major Research
Equipment and Facilities Construction account is funded at $182.8 million which
is equal to the request and the Senate’s recommendation and includes funding
for 3 Regional Class Research Vessels.
The Education and Human Resources account is funded at $902 million, a
2.5% increase over FY17.
Funding is
provided for basic research across scientific disciplines to support the
development of effective Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics [STEM]
programs; $105 million is provided for the continued design and construction of
three Regional Class Research Vessels (RCRV); $171 million is provided for the
Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), $11 million
above the FY2017 enacted level and $71 million above the request.
For the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the bill provides $5.9 billion, $234
million above the FY2017 enacted level. The bill provides full funding for
NOAA’s flagship weather satellites, which are critical for accurate weather
warnings to protect lives and property. Increased funding is provided for the
National Weather Service to address failing infrastructure at its Weather
Forecast Offices across the country. Furthermore, the bill provides funding to
procure an additional Hurricane Hunter to provide backup for future hurricane
reconnaissance missions. In addition, the bill includes increased funding for
our nation’s fisheries. This includes continued support for more accurate and
agency-independent data, and language allowing NOAA to experiment with
alternative management regimes. Provisions in the bill will help expand
opportunities for American commercial and recreational fishermen. Increased
funding for NOAA also supports the agency’s core missions and programs,
including: hydrographic charting, a total of $76.5M for the National Sea Grant
College program or which $11 million is for aquaculture, $25 million is for the
National Estuarine Research Reserve System (an increase of 6.4% over FY17), and
the Integrated Ocean Observing System, among others. Funding in the amount of
$24.3 million is also included to continue NOAA’s fleet recapitalization to
replace the agency’s oldest research vessels.
The omnibus provides an additional $1.2 million for the IUU program and
restores funding for the Prescott program.
For the National
Weather Service, the bill provides a $1.014 billion for operations which is
3.5% above the FY 17 level and $31 million more than requested by the Administration
for FY18. Within this amount
Observations will grow by 3.7% to $224.4 million; Analyze, Forecast, and
Support will grow by 3.4% to $503.9 million; Dissemination grows by 7% to $50
million; and Science and Technology Integration grows by 4.7% to $143
million. The NWS also received an
additional $143 million (as requested) for procurement, acquisition, and
construction activities associated with observations, central processing,
dissemination, and weather forecast office construction.
For NASA, a total of
$20.7 billion is provided which is $1.1 billion above the FY2017 enacted level
and $1.6 billion above the budget request, to support the human and robotic
exploration of space, fund science missions that enhance the understanding of
the Earth, the solar system, and the universe, and support fundamental
aeronautics research. This includes $6.2 billion for Science, $457 million
above the FY2017 enacted level and $510 million above the request; $100 million
is provided for Education programs that were proposed to be eliminated in the
budget request. NASA EPSCoR is funded at $18 million, Space Grant is funded at
$40 million, the Minority University Research and Education Project is funded
at $32 million, and STEM Education and Accountability Projects are funded at
$10 million.
For the National
Institutes of Health, the omnibus provides $37 billion which is $3 billion or
8.8% more than FY17. This amount also
includes $496 million from the 21st Century Cures Act. Within the
omnibus, funding for the All of Us (formerly
precision medicine) is increased by $60 million; BRAIN research is increased by
$140 million; and $500 million is targeted research on opioid addiction
research,
For the U.S.
Geological Survey, the omnibus provides a total of $1.148 billion which
represents a 5.8% increase over FY17, instead of the 15% reduction recommended
by the Administration. Funding for
earthquake monitoring and research, landslide surveys is provided. At least $23 million is provided for the 3DEP
mapping program.
For the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the omnibus provides $8 billion. Within this amount EPA Science and Technology
is funded at $706.5 million, instead of the $450 million requested by the
Administration. The Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program
is maintained at its current level rather than terminated as proposed by the
Administration. The bill also provides funding for key geographic programs including $300 million for Great Lakes Restoration; $73
million for the Chesapeake Bay; $12.5 million for the Gulf of Mexico; and $8.4
million for Lake Champlain. The National
Estuary Program is funded at $26.7 million.
For the Department
of Energy (DOE), the omnibus provides $6.3 billion for the Office of Science
(including $110 million for the Energy Frontier Research Centers) and $353.3
million for ARAP-E – instead of its termination as proposed by the
Administration.
NIH to Issue Funding Opportunity for All of Us Genome Centers (OT2)
-- The National Institutes of Health intends to issue a funding announcement
(FA) to solicit applications for large-scale Genome Centers to generate genomic
data as part of the All of Us Research Program. The All of
Us Research Program seeks to create one of the world’s largest and
most comprehensive precision medicine research platforms with a data resource
containing multi-layered data on 1 million or more participants. The All
of Us Genome Centers will be funded to generate both genotyping and
whole genome sequencing data from biospecimens from this cohort. These Centers
also will operate an analysis workflow resulting in high-confidence calling of
all variant types (single nucleotide variants, small insertions/deletions,
larger structural variants) and establish a robust pipeline to securely
transmit data to the All of Us Data and Research Center.
The All of Us Research Program currently is in an enrollment
beta phase in preparation for launching nationwide in the spring of 2018. It is
anticipated that 100,000 persons will consent to participate and provide DNA
for analysis by the end of this year, with 1 million or more participants
within the next 5 years. Primary goals for the All of Us genomics
platform, anchored by the large-scale Genome Centers, are to 1) develop the
capacity and rigor necessary to achieve unprecedented scale of genomic data
generation, up to 200,000 genome-wide assays per year, 2) generate high quality
genotyping and genome sequence data, with state-of-the-science variant calling,
as a crucial data element for the All of Us research resource,
3) provide comprehensive variant data to fuel analysis workflows for return of
information to the participants in the program, 4) contribute to the
advancement of technologies and approaches for population-scale genome
analysis, 5) establish strong collaborative relationships among all
investigators in the All of Us genomics platform, and 6)
contribute to strategic direction of the program as members of All of
Us consortium governance. All
of Us Genome Center Awards are anticipated for FY18 and the timeline
for FA publication, application preparation, NIH review, and establishment of
awards is abbreviated. More information on this forthcoming opportunity can be
found here.
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Transitions AREA Support to Undergraduate-Focused Institutions
-- NIGMS is realigning its support of the Academic Research Enhancement Award
(AREA) program to focus on providing research experiences to undergraduate
students in scientific areas within its mission. NIGMS has
released a new undergraduate research-focused AREA funding opportunity
announcement (FOA) while
discontinuing participation in the NIH Parent AREA FOA.
The undergraduate research-focused AREA FOA will: 1) support small-scale
meritorious research projects at institutions that do not receive substantial
NIH funding (less than $6 million in total costs in 4 of the last 7 years), 2)
enhance the research environment at eligible institutions, and 3) expose
students to scientific research so that they consider careers in biomedical
sciences. The new announcement allows NIGMS to place its emphasis specifically
on undergraduate research. This new AREA
FOA limits eligibility to undergraduate student-focused institutions or
academic components within an institution (e.g., School of Arts and Sciences)
in which the undergraduate student enrollment is greater than the graduate
student enrollment, and it excludes all types of health professional schools.
Additionally, the research team must be composed primarily of undergraduate
students. More information is available here.
NSF Solicits Proposals for Operating Regional Class
Research Vessels -- The NSF’s Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE)
Integrative Programs Section (IPS) is soliciting proposals from eligible
organizations to serve as Operating Institutions (OIs) for two (2) Regional
Class Research Vessels (RCRVs). Planning for construction of new RCRVs
for the U.S. Academic Research Fleet (ARF) has been ongoing at the National
Science Foundation for more than a decade. In early 2012 a Solicitation
(NSF-12-558) was issued for the design and construction of up to three
RCRVs. The solicitation provided that the Awardee would serve as Lead
Institution (LI) for the Design and Construction of all vessels in the Class
with the option to serve as Operator of the Lead Ship. The solicitation further
indicated that selection of OIs for any additional vessels would be conducted
by means of a separate competition that would be completed prior to delivery of
the first RCRV. In early 2013, a resulting Cooperative Agreement was
awarded to Oregon State University (OSU). As the LI, OSU is responsible for managing
each phase of the design, construction and trials of each vessel in the Class.
The Design Phase has been completed and NSF’s 2017 budget included a provision
that supported construction of three (3) ships. A construction contract
for up to three Regional Class Research Vessels was awarded to Gulf Island
Shipyards, LLC. This solicitation seeks
to select qualified institutions to operate the additional RCRV Class vessels.
These institutions shall either have current membership in the
University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) or be capable of
becoming UNOLS members prior to taking over responsibility for full vessel
operations. Separate proposals are required for each vessel. For
additional information on this solicitation consult the program announcement
which is available here.
DOE Application
Deadline Approaches for Competitiveness Improvement Project --
Last month, DOE released the
latest request for proposals under the Competitiveness Improvement Project
(CIP) for distributed wind energy. The CIP, funded by DOE's Wind Energy
Technologies Office and administered by NREL, is designed to facilitate the
development of next-generation, U.S.-manufactured small and mid-size wind
turbine technology by awarding cost-shared contracts for system design
optimization, advanced manufacturing, and turbine testing. The goals of the CIP
are to make wind energy cost competitive with other distributed generation
technologies and increase the number of wind turbine designs certified to
international testing standards. Proposals
are due March 28 by 4 p.m. Eastern Time.
UK Releases Report Recommending
Future Opportunities in the Ocean Sciences
-- A major report looking at the future of the oceans sets out opportunities for
the UK to capitalize on its existing strengths in research, technology and the
diversity of ocean industries. The
report Foresight Future of the Sea,
published by the Government Office for Science identifies four major structural
issues that can deliver opportunities for the UK including: an improved understanding of the sea; greater
co-ordination with industry, academia, government, and the public; a long-term approach to decision making; and
the increasing global nature of the challenges with respect to the oceans. The report includes a number of recommendations
for the UK including: develop a more strategic position, with clear priorities,
with regard to its marine interests; identify and work with key sectors to
create a long term platform for UK businesses to capitalize on growing global
opportunities; address key threats to biodiversity; reduce plastic pollution in
the sea; ensure scientific activity is positioned to deliver for UK priorities;
and prioritize key research needs (modelling of sea leave rise, technologies to
improve communication and data transfer, ocean warming and ocean acidification,
etc.).
