April 2015
Congress is in the midst of developing a budget and determining funding levels for the 2016 fiscal year (FY). The House and Senate Budget Committee chairs have advanced a compromise agreement. The budget agreement is expected to be debated on the House floor beginning April 30, and introduced in the Senate during the first week of May.
Of greatest concern to AERA is the continued threat of sequestration with the looming expiration of the Ryan–Murray budget agreement in September. While President Obama’s budget for FY 2016 would increase funding for agencies of interest to AERA, the proposed agreement between the House and Senate budget leaders, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), would keep in place the caps under the Budget Control Act for FY 2016.
The House Appropriations Committee sets the funding ceiling, known as 302(b) allocations, for each of its subcommittees. The Labor-HHS-Education (Labor-HHS) Subcommittee would receive an allocation of $153 billion in FY 2016, a cut of $3.7 billion, or 2.4 percent, below the current FY 2015 level. The Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee would receive an allocation of $51.3 billion, an increase of $1.2 billion over the FY 2015 level. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet released its 302(b) allocations.
AERA and more than 670 organizations have signed on to a letter calling for restoration of funding to the FY 2010, pre-sequestration level for the Labor-HHS Subcommittee of $163.3 billion.
AERA has also submitted testimony to the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees on FY 2016 funding for the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Science Foundation.