Congress returned to Capitol Hill last week to confront a series of high priority domestic and international policy issues that will dominate the fall legislative agenda. Funding government agencies beyond the end of the fiscal year on September 30 is at the top of the list, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) acknowledged in an interview on a Kentucky television program on August 30. Reaching consensus on raising the spending caps and what to do about sequestration are two of the biggest problems that will need to be resolved by Congress and President Obama.

To keep government agencies open while they negotiate a final budget agreement for FY 2016, lawmakers are expected to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that will remain in effect through the fall. On August 21, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent the House and Senate Appropriations Committees a list of “anomalies” the Obama administration would like to see included in the CR. None of the anomalies requested by OMB affect the science agencies, which will operate at current funding levels until a budget is passed. The CR will give lawmakers additional time to reach an agreement on the final fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget and these outcomes will have direct implications for the biomedical research community. In June, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill that would provide a $2 billion dollar increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). However, this increase will not become a reality unless Congress agrees to raise the current caps and replace sequestration with alternative savings.

The looming debt ceiling could further complicate budget discussions. Over the August break, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a report predicting that the U.S. will reach its current borrowing limit (known as the debt ceiling) between the end of November or early December. At that point, the government will no longer be able to borrow additional money to fund its operations. Congress will need to vote to increase the debt ceiling in order to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its obligations. The White House has already indicated that President Obama will not negotiate on raising the debt ceiling. It is not clear if congressional Republicans will insist that any increase in the debt limit be accompanied by spending cuts – as they did in 2011. The full CBO report is available here.

ASPET continues to work with the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) on messaging to convey to lawmakers that increasing the spending caps will play a critical role in restoring stability to the nation’s research enterprise.

Last updated: September 14, 2015