- Author: Kathleen P Nolan
Published on: December 19, 2016
On Dec. 10, President Barack Obama signed into law legislation that provides appropriations to prevent a government shutdown and continue funding for federal programs and services until April 28, 2017. The Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017 (H.R. 2028) provides funding at an annualized level of $1,069.6 billion.
A few highlights on how the Act may impact the research community:
- The Act makes provisions for ‘Environmental Protection Agency—State and Tribal Assistance Grants' in the amount of 100 million for making capitalization grants for the ‘Drinking Water State Revolving Funds'.
- The Act contains several provisions for the 21st Century Cures Act which supports the ‘Department of Health and Human Services Account For the State Response to the Opioid Abuse Crisis, NIH Innovation Account, and FDA Innovation Account'. It appropriates $1 billion for opioid abuse prevention and $4.8 billion for biomedical research funding, including Obama's Precision Medicine initiative and the BRAIN initiative. Additionally, $1.8 billion is dedicated to cancer research, a part of the bill that was renamed the “Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot”. The Act also aims to strengthen mental health services and access.
- For the Department of Energy, the Act supports appropriations for —‘Atomic Energy Defense Activities—National Nuclear Security Administration—Weapons Activities, Energy Programs—Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund, and Energy Security and Infrastructure Modernization Fund'.
- Funds are appropriated for the ‘Emergency Watershed Protection Program' and for the ‘Emergency Conservation Program'.
- The Agriculture Appropriations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agencies, including NIFA, is included in the CR. The current CR provides additional funding for NIFA at the FY 2016 level. NIFA will continue to release Requests for Applications based on estimated 2017 funding levels for competitive programs. Note that the CR does not impact the funding amounts for NIFA's mandatory programs.
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)
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