Congress returned Tuesday, November 13th, for the lame duck session with leadership elections planned for both chambers of the House in the upcoming weeks. Twelve session days are left before the current stopgap spending bill expires for research agencies such as NSF, NOAA, NASA, NIST, USDA, USDOT, and DHS.

President Trump's demand for $20 billion for the boarder wall may bring about a government shutdown. The current House Homeland Security bill provides $5 billion for "technology and physical barriers.” The Senate bill would provide $1.6 billion for “pedestrian fencing.” There is certainly a chance that another stop gap spending bill will be needed to carry the agencies beyond the current December 7 deadline.

If you're interested in finding out how the midterm election results will impact research and/or student aid, plan to participate in an upcoming federal update session. The FSU Office of Federal Relations will host an update session on the main campus on Thursday November 15 at 3pm and on the southwest campus on Friday November 16 at 3pm. In addition to sharing insights on the midterm election results, a recap of FY19 spending levels for relevant federal agencies/programs will be shared as well as an outlook for the FY20 budget/appropriations cycle. Staff will also provide guidance on engaging the congressional delegation and federal agencies. 

Register to Attend

• Department of Defense, Research Development Test & Evaluation - 7.46%
• Department of Defense, 6.1 Basic Research - 11.80%
• Department of Defense, 6.2 Applied Research - 6.80%
• Department of Defense, 6.3 Advanced Technology Development - 7.66%
• Department of Defense, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - 11.72%

CNSR Letter to Appropriators Regarding FY 2019 DOD Appropriations

The president today signed a bill that provides funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other agencies. $39.1 billion for NIH, a $2 billion increase from last year’s budget. ... Read More

On September 27, Congressman Neal Dunn chaired a House Subcommittee on Veterans Health Hearing that looked at PTSD and suicide in the veteran population. Dr. Dunn reference FSU research in the area ... Read More

The Ad Hoc Group issued a response statement to the recent passing in the house-senate for funding the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ... Read More

Appropriators on Capitol Hill have announced an agreement that funds several key departments (Defense, Education, Labor, Health and Human Services) for the full fiscal year and others through December 7. ... Read More

Over the summer, the House and Senate worked on different tracks to advance spending bills for the fiscal year that begins on October 1. ... Read More

Advocacy for federal investments in research and student financial assistance programs is an important activity that is regularly undertaken by administrators, faculty and students. ... Read More

President Trump has announced the nomination of Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier to serve as his top science advisor and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). ... Read More

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has provided guidance to federal research agencies on preparing their Fiscal Year 2020 budget requests, which should be formally presented to Congress for consideration in early February 2019. ... Read More

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is sponsoring a Proposers Day to provide information to potential proposers on the objectives of an anticipated ... Read More

President Trump has announced the nomination of Lane Genatowski to head the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy at the Department of Energy. ... Read More

The House and Senate continue to advance spending bills for the coming fiscal year. Thus far, research and student aid agencies/programs have fared relatively well in the FY19 appropriations process. ... Read More

Members of Congress are taking aim at foreign agents' access to federally supported research at institutions of higher education. ... Read More

FSU and other members for the Coalition for National Science Funding joined in a statement thanking the Senate for supporting increased appropriations for NSF in the FY19 appropriations process. ... Read More

The National Institutes of Health intends to issue a request for information by October 30 on its 2016 policy decision to expand the definition of a clinical trial to include basic studies involving ... Read More

Today, President Trump proposed merging the Departments of Education and Labor. ... Read More

Reauthorization of the massive Higher Education Act will likely be tabled for this year. ... Read More

The National Science Foundation joined with the Air Force to announce a new partnership on science and engineering research to increase national security. ... Read More

Bill Nelson joined 17 other senators to push for increased funding for the Institute of Education Sciences within the Department of Education. ... Read More

A new National Academies report calls on Congress, NIH and its grantees to make changes to make changes to bolster the future biomedical and behavioral sciences enterprise. ... Read More

On April 5 and 6, staff to Senators Nelson and Rubio and Representatives Dunn and Lawson visited federally-supported FSU research sites. ... Read More

Earlier today, President Trump signed a final spending package into law for Fiscal Year 2018. ... Read More

Representatives Neal Dunn and Al Lawson joined 159 other representatives to push for increased funding for the National Science Foundation in Fiscal Year 2019. ... Read More