House Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill Reopens Numerous Federal Agencies

A PDF copy of this summary is available here. Additional details on the legislative package are available here.

House Appropriations Committee Democrats have filed legislation to reopen the federal government and fund the Departments of Commerce and Justice, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and other agencies.

The legislation is virtually identical to the FY19 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill that passed the Senate Appropriations Committee in June by a 30-1 vote.

It provides $71.7 billion in discretionary and mandatory funding, $5.6 billion above the President’s budget request and $238.5 million above the FY2018 enacted level. The discretionary funding in the bill totals $71.4 billion, $258.5 million above the FY 2018 enacted level. The legislation will end the Trump Shutdown and fund the agencies covered in the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill through September 30.

Bill Highlights:

U.S. Department of Commerce – $11.6 billion overall for the Department of Commerce, an increase of $434.6 million above the FY 2018 enacted level and $1.8 billion above the President’s budget request.

• International Trade Administration (ITA) – $499 million, an increase of $4 million above the FY2018 enacted level and $48 million above the President’s budget request.

• Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) – $121.6 million, an increase of $8.1 million above FY 2018 and $1 million above the President’s budget request.

• Economic Development Administration (EDA) – $305.5 million, an increase of $4 million above the FY2018 enacted level. The total includes $117.5 million for its Public Works program, which supports brick-and-mortar projects in distressed communities across the nation, and $25 million for the Regional Innovation Program to help create jobs by establishing and expanding region-focused innovative technology business endeavors.  The President had proposed completely eliminating EDA.

• Census Bureau – $3.82 billion, an increase of more than $1 billion above FY2018, to enable the Bureau to effectively prepare for a thorough, accurate, and cost-effective 2020 Decennial Census.

• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) — $3.37 billion, equal to the President’s budget request.

• Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program — $140 million, equal to the FY2018 enacted level.  The President had proposed completely eliminating this program.

• NOAA Climate Research — $160 million, an increase of $2 million above the FY2018 enacted level and $61.4 million above the President’s budget request. 

• National Weather Service — $1 billion for operating expenses, an increase of $4.2 million above the FY 2018 enacted level and $84 million above the President’s budget request. In addition, this bill fully funds efforts to procure future weather satellites, which are essential to accurate weather forecasting.

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) – $30.7 billion overall for the Department of Justice, which is more than $400 million above the FY2018 enacted level and $945 million above the President’s budget request.

• United States Attorneys – $ 2.18 billion, an increase of $43 million above the FY2018 enacted level and $74 million above the President’s budget request.

• United States Marshals Service – $2.95 billion, an increase of $47 million above the FY2018 enacted level and $127 million above the President’s budget request.

• Federal Bureau of Investigation – $9.4 billion, an increase of $15 million above the FY2018 enacted level and $491.2 million above the President’s budget request.

• Drug Enforcement Administration– $2.2 billion, an increase of $44 million above the FY 2018 enacted level and $47 million above the President’s budget request.

• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms– $1.3 billion, an increase of $23 million above the FY2018 enacted level and the same as the President’s budget request.

• Grants to State and Local Law Enforcement – $2.9 billion is provided. This includes: $445 million for Byrne JAG; $310 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program; $182 million to address sexual assault kit and other DNA evidence backlogs; $90 million for Second Chance Act programs; $360 million for grant programs to address the opioid crisis; $100 million for the STOP School Violence Act; $498 million for Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) programs; and $75 million for grants to improve the NICS firearms background check system.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – $21.3 billion is provided, an increase of $587 million above the FY 2018 enacted level and $1.4 billion above the President’s budget request.

• $1.93 billion for Earth Science, an increase of $10 million above the FY2018 enacted level and $146.8 million above the President’s budget request, to enable better scientific information about the Earth and its changing climate.  The President had proposed a 7 percent cut to Earth Science.

• $725 million for Aeronautics research, an increase of $40 million above FY 2018 and $91.1 million above the President’s budget request, to continue efforts to make passenger air travel safer, more fuel efficient, less noisy, and more environmentally sustainable. 

• $110 million for NASA’s STEM education efforts, an increase of $10 million above FY 2018, to enable NASA to inspire young people to pursue future careers in science. This amount includes funding increases for the Space Grant program, Minority University Research and Education Project, and Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCOR). The President had proposed eliminating funding for all of these.

National Science Foundation (NSF) — $8.1 billion, an increase of $301 million above the FY2018 enacted level and $597 million above the President’s budget request.

• NSF Research and Related Activities —$6.6 billion, an increase of $222 million above the FY2018 enacted level and $406 million above the President’s budget request.

• NSF Scientific Infrastructure — $249 million, an increase of $66 million above the FY2018 enacted level and $155 million above the President’s budget request.

Legal Services Corporation — $ 410 million, the same as the FY2018 enacted level.  The President had proposed completely eliminating this program, which helps provide legal assistance to underserved communities.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — $380 million, the same as the FY2018 enacted level and $16 million above the President’s budget request.

International Trade Commission (ITC) — $95 million, $1.3 million above the FY2018 enacted level and $7.4 million above the President’s budget request, to enable ITC to investigate unfair trade practices that harm American companies.

Crime Victims Fund — $3.35 billion for victims and for victim services, including a Tribal set-aside of nearly $168 million for programs to assist Native American victims of crime.