Congress Releases, Advances FY 2025 Spending Legislation
As we head into summer, the House of Representatives has been releasing and advancing its fiscal year (FY) 2025 appropriations bills that set spending levels for all federal agencies. The strict budget caps set in place by the Fiscal Responsibility Act have ensured that many federal agencies face flat funding or budget cuts in FY 2025, though some agencies have been proposed for minor increases. The House proposed the National Science Foundation (NSF) receive $9.26 billion , a $198.6 million or 2.2 percent increase over current levels. The bill also includes a provision supported by SIOP that would encourage NSF to focus on improving graduate STEM education and training by developing best practices, setting mentorship standards, and studying impact of funding models on productivity and outcomes, among other efforts. Within the Department of Education (ED), the House of Representatives propose eliminating funding for the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need program, which provides funding to graduate education programs to establish and fund fellowships to expand the number of advanced degree holders in high-need fields designated by ED, including I-O psychology. Other provisions in the House bills would direct the Department of Justice (DOJ) to develop workplace wellbeing and employee wellness programs , and direct the Department of Labor (DOL) to fund projects using augmented reality and virtual reality to “expedite training processes, increase skills retention, and reduce employee turnover.” The House bills also include highly partisan provisions that would institute “return to work” policies for most federal agencies, prohibit implementation of proposed EEOC guidance on enforcement on harassment in the workplace, and prevent DOJ from including priorities for topics related to accountable policing in grant programming.
The House of Representatives has advanced these bills through the Appropriations Committee and plans to put them to a vote before the full House of Representatives. However, due to the number of partisan policy provisions in the bill, the bills stand no chance of being enacted into law. Instead, the House will negotiate with the Senate, which has been proceeding in a more bipartisan manner, over the funding levels and policy provisions included in the final legislation. However, this process is not expected to wrap up until after the November election.
SIOP Continues Engagement on STEM Immigration Legislation
Following SIOP’s engagement with Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL), sponsor of the Keep STEM Talent Act of 2023 , Lewis-Burke met with staff from the offices of Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mike Rounds (R-SD), the sponsors of the Senate companion version of the legislation. As previously reported in the May edition of Washington InfO, the bill would create an exemption from the cap of immigrant visas issued for non-U.S. nationals with an advanced degree in a STEM field, and create additional flexibility for individuals to pursue nonimmigrant F-1 student visas to pursue an advanced degree in a STEM field while also seeking lawful permanent resident status. Senator Durbin’s and Rounds’ staff members shared that the Senators are seeking to include the legislation in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a bill that passes every year to make policy changes relating to national security, federal activities, and a broad array of issue topics.
Both offices expressed they had no objection to broadening the legislation to include flexibility for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to add additional fields from the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List, including I-O psychology, to the list of those degree fields that could benefit from these changes. Lewis-Burke has been working with the two offices to amend the bill and will continue to closely engage whether or not the legislation is ultimately included in this year’s NDAA.
Publication Type
Washington InfO
Topic
STEM