July 14, 2017

The House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year (FY) 2018 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies funding bill on July 13 by a vote of 31 to 21. The bill contains $54 billion in total discretionary funding, which is $2.6 billion below FY 2017 and $4 billion above the President's request. The committee did not change the funding levels that were approved by the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee at the subcommittee mark up on June 29. NSF would receive $7.34 billion, a reduction of $132.67 million (1.8 percent) from the FY 17 enacted amount. Approximately $131.12 million of the reduction comes out of the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account, with the remainder coming from the Agency Operations and Award Management (AOAM) account. The R&RA account is funded at the current level of $6 billion. The FY 18 mark for NSF is a $686.64 million (10.3 percent) increase over the President's budget request for NSF. The bill report and summary are available on the committee's website.

In June, legislation to improve the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs was moving through the House. The bill, H.R. 2763, was introduced by Rep. Stephen Knight, R-CA-25, on May 30, and it was referred to the House Small Business Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. The Small Business Committee marked up H.R. 2763 on June 15 and favorably reported it out. The House Science Committee held a markup on June 22 and approved the bill. An amendment to include NSF's I-Corps program under the measure was withdrawn. H.R. 2763 now awaits action by the full House.

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