The Office of Government Relations (OGR) presented CU's Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 appropriations requests to the Colorado congressional delegation in Washington, DC. The university's priorities reflect the higher education community's funding requests for research, education, and workforce development accounts of importance to CU's academic, research and public outreach missions.  Those priorities, which were presented to the offices in March, include the Department of Education’s (ED) student aid programs, as well research agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  They also include a variety of important research and workforce programs at the departments of Energy (DOE), Defense (DOD), Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Veterans Administration (VA) as well as ED’s international education programs. CU President Bruce Benson and all four Chancellors endorsed the requests in a letter to the Colorado delegation, which discussed CU's support for robust and sustained federal investment in these programs and also urged Colorado lawmakers to work with their congressional colleagues and the Trump Administration to raise discretionary spending caps scheduled to return in FY 2020. These across-the-board spending cuts, known as sequestration, would reduce federal spending by $225 billion over the next two years and The Science Coalition estimates would cut federal fundamental research investment by $5.1 billion in 2020 alone. 

At OGR's urging, many Colorado Members of Congress signed letters to congressional appropriators in support of CU's research and education priorities, including NIH, NSF, DOE's Office of Science, NASA Space Grant, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), HHS physician and nursing workforce training (Title VII and VIII), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and international education programs (Title VI). Notably, Congressman Joe Neguse, who represents CU Boulder, co-led the first-ever House letter in support of NIST and signed a letter in support of continuing NASA's CLARREO Pathfinder mission. In addition, Senator Gardner, who is chairman of the Senate subcommittee on science and was recently recognized by The Science Coalition as a Champion of Science, is advancing CU's request for NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) for the first time and also supporting CU priorities around quantum information science as well as NIH and VA medical and prosthetic research.  Congresswoman DeGette co-led the annual letter in support of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Title VII physician workforce training funds.  Congressman Jason Crow joined his colleagues in supporting eight research and workforce programs important to faculty, students and trainees at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, including NIH, and the Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) as well as research and workforce programs at HRSA, the CDC, the VA and in the HHS Administration for Community Living. 

This month, Congress, and the House in particular, began its FY 2020 appropriations work in earnest with several markups at both the subcommittee and committee levels. OGR will continue to strategically engage with the Colorado congressional delegation, congressional committee staff, and our national association partners, as the appropriations process unfolds, in support of CU's federal priorities, emerging opportunities, and a bipartisan deal to raise the budget caps before the new fiscal year begins on October.

Stock Photo Appropriations

Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on Unsplash