April 12, 2013 - Sequestration/Research Budget Update

On March 21, Congress passed an amended version of HR 933, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013, a spending package that funds the Federal Government though September 30, the end of the fiscal year, and avoids a government shutdown as the current continuing resolution (CR) expired on March 27. Senate amendments added three full-year spending bills for; Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug and related agencies; Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies and Homeland Security and extended FY 2012 levels for most of the remaining agencies including: Labor, HHS and Education, Energy and Water development and Interior, Environment and Related agencies. While HR 933 does not prevent sequestration cuts of over 5 percent, it does add additional funding before sequestration to some agencies including: the National Science Foundation (NSF) received $152 million more or 2.7 percent to offset the sequester’s impact from 5 percent to 2.4 percent below FY 2012 levels; the National Institutes of Health (NIH) received an additional $71 million, but sequestration will reduce NIH’s current year budget by $1.4 billion or 4.8 percent below the FY 2012 level; the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received $9 million more to increase spending on facilities, food safety and medical countermeasures among other expenses; the Department of Agriculture (USDA) received $55 million for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, designated to prevent sequester mandated furloughs of meat, poultry and egg inspectors; the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) science and technology division is nearly $185 million higher than its 2012 level, with about $37 million set aside for the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF). For updates on research budget issues, please visit the Public Affairs webpage at: Research and Development Funding for FY 2014