AERA Encourages Appropriations Leaders to Increase Funding for Agencies that Support Education Research November 2019 On November 21, President Donald Trump signed into law a second short-term continuing resolution (CR) to extend funding for FY 2020 at FY 2019 levels through December 20. The CR provides additional time for Congress and the administration to resolve differences on several policy issues after the initial CR expired on November 21.
While the July bipartisan agreement on the budget caps increased the amount of funding for FY 2020 and FY 2021, the allocations for the non-defense appropriations bills in the Senate remain one of the major issues of disagreement. In particular, the current Senate allocation for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill includes relatively flat funding overall compared to FY 2019, while the Homeland Security bill includes funding for the construction of a southern border wall, which Democrats oppose.
The CR includes several modifications to funding levels, including an annualized rate of $7.3 billion for periodic censuses and programs at the Census Bureau that can be spent at a rate to meet deadlines for the 2020 decennial census. This amount also includes $90 million for mobile questionnaire assistance centers.
Since the enactment of the initial CR in September, AERA has joined several efforts to encourage appropriations leaders to increase funding for federal agencies that support education research. On October 24, the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research sent a letter to urge passage of final FY 2020 appropriations legislation with a robust investment for the National Institutes of Health.
On October 25, the Coalition for National Science Funding sent a letter urging completion of the FY 2020 Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill with at least $8.6 billion provided in the House bill for the National Science Foundation. On November 15, Friends of IES sent a letter requesting that FY 2020 funding for IES be increased to $650 million in the House appropriations bill.
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