CGA NEWS
(2-21-14)
To: CGA
From: A۰P۰L۰U Congressional and Governmental Affairs Staff
· S.1982 with Veterans’ In-State Tuition Provision Expected on Senate Floor Monday
· Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act, S. 1468, Coming to Markup Soon
· Some House Appropriations Subcommittee Programmatic Request Deadlines Announced
· White House Talking Points on FY2015 Budget
· Reminder - Invitation to 100 Anniversary Celebration of Cooperative Extension on Capitol Hill on March 5
· S.1982 with Veterans’ In-State Tuition Provision Expected on Senate Floor Monday
On Monday, February 24, the Senate expects to take a cloture vote on the motion to proceed on S.1982, Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act of 2014. The bill's Section 201 is similar to the language that was in the recently House passed GI Tuition Fairness Act, H.R. 357; however, S. 1982 includes the veteran and other "covered individuals" for in-state tuition rates and has an effective date of July 2015. Like H.R. 357, it limits the time frame for in-state tuition to a three year window post discharge. APLU will likely be sending a letter on the bill to the Senate on Monday, which we will send to the CGA.
· Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act, S. 1468, Coming to Markup Soon
As reported on yesterday’s CGA monthly call, the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act, S. 1468, introduced by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), is expected to be brought up for markup in the next two weeks in the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. A summary and section by section of the bill is attached. APLU staff have been assured by Senator Brown's office that the language related to Bayh-Dole that APLU and the Association of American Universities (AAU) had initial concerns with will be modified to our liking. CGA members with Senators on the Commerce Committee are encouraged to weigh in with support for the bill.
· Some House Appropriations Subcommittee Programmatic Request Deadlines Announced
The House Appropriations Committee has announced deadlines for Member programmatic request submissions for FY2015 for several of the Subcommittees. Of course, individual Representatives will have internal deadlines earlier than the Subcommittees. CGA are encouraged to check in with your delegation Members. The Subcommittee online forms will be available on the Appropriations website on February 26 for House offices to begin using.
The following deadlines of relevance have been announced:
· White House Talking Points on FY2015 Budget
The White House revealed some initial details about their upcoming FY2015 budget request. Of particular interest to universities, there is some encouraging language about offering additional support for research, education, and manufacturing within their "Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative." Some highlights of the White House release below:
The FY2015 Budget will build on the themes the President laid out in the State of the Union and lay out a specific vision for how we create opportunity for all Americans. The Budget will show how we can invest in the things we need to grow our economy, create jobs, increase skills training and improve education -- without adding to our deficit.
By simply closing a few unfair tax loopholes and reforming spending programs, Congress could achieve significant economic goals in research, education, clean energy and manufacturing and skills training that would create opportunity for all.
This year the Administration is returning to a more traditional Budget presentation that is focused on achieving the President’s vision for the best path to create growth and opportunity for all Americans, and the investments needed to meet that vision. The President’s budget will build on the progress we have made through regular order this year with the Murray-Ryan budget agreement and show how we can do more to create opportunity for all.
The FY2015 Budget will adhere to the FY2015 spending levels agreed to in the Murray-Ryan deal – a bipartisan compromise that, while it didn’t include everything we would like, did represent a constructive return to the regular order budget process that brought certainty to help our economy. The budget will show the tradeoffs and choices the President would make while adhering to those levels.
To show how the budget will fully realize the President’s vision for an economy that promotes opportunity for all Americans, the budget will also include a fully paid for Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, which will include additional policies to grow the economy and create jobs - without adding a dime to the deficit.
…
Details about Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative:
The Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative will be fully paid for with a balanced package of spending and tax reforms.
It will demonstrate how, by simply closing a few unfair tax loopholes and reforming spending programs, Congress could achieve significant economic goals in research, education, manufacturing and skills training. It will be evenly split between defense and non-defense ($28 billion for each). This is consistent with the model established in Murray-Ryan, providing equal dollar-for-dollar increases above the current law discretionary spending caps for both defense and non-defense. (This level would fully eliminate the remaining non-defense discretionary sequestration cuts in FY2015.)
The Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative will include concrete, specific proposals to grow our economy and help the middle class.
To list just a couple of examples, the Opportunity, Growth and Security Initiative will include:
· a proposal to fully realize the President’s vision to create 45 new manufacturing institutes across the country.
· a new “Race to the Top” initiative for energy efficiency to support States that implement effective policies to cut energy waste and modernize the grid.
· new demand-driven skills training proposals aimed at expanding apprenticeships and pairing colleges and private employers together to get our workers the skills they need to compete for good jobs.
· and education proposals that help us achieve the President’s vision for universal Pre-K and improved head start options for all families.
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· Reminder - Invitation to 100 Anniversary Celebration of Cooperative Extension on Capitol Hill on March 5
As mentioned previously, in honor of the 100 anniversary of Cooperative Extension and the Smith-Lever Act, CGA are invited to a reception on Capitol Hill from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5 in B-357 Rayburn. Please RSVP by February 26, 2014 to ECOP@APLU.org.
CGA are encouraged to extend the invitation to Senate and House members and relevant staff. Attendees will include Cooperative Extension Directors and Administrators, USDA senior administrators, representatives from the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET) and others.
Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU)
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