President Biden signed six spending bills for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) on March 9th – five months after the fiscal year began in October 2023. While not originally in this grouping, the minibus included the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations with a disappointing cut of $479 million dollars to the FY23 omnibus level for the National Science Foundation (NSF). A continuing resolution (CR) remains a concern for the six funding bills due by March 22nd, which includes spending for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), Institute for Education Sciences (IES), and the National Institutes for Health (NIH).
Initially included in the second set of bills, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies included $9.303 billion for FY24, representing a 5 percent cut compared to FY23 enacted level of spending. However, this does not reflect the ‘real feel’ cut to NSF. In FY23, NSF received supplemental funding [source: “CHIPS And Science Funding Update: FY 2023 Omnibus, FY 2024 Budget Both Short By Billions”].
[Click here for the updated FABBS Federal Science Funding Dashboard]
Status of Remaining FY24 Appropriations
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Appropriations Committee, and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Vice Chair, indicated that they are making progress on the remaining FY24 appropriations. Senator Murray notes, however, that the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Bill still includes poison pills, controversial policy riders that may make it hard for otherwise supportive members to vote for the bill. It is important to note that in order to get the first six passed, all new policy riders were struck down indicating bipartisan support for finishing up FY24.
