President Barack Obama signed into law on Friday a $1.1 trillion spending bill that partially restores last year’s sequestration cuts from various federal research grants and financial aid programs.
The budget agreement reached in Congress came at a time when University of California leaders have been mobilizing to combat the federal sequester cuts, which led to a more than 11 percent decrease – $370 million – in federal research funding for the University, according to data from the UC Office of the President. Sequester cuts, implemented to reduce the federal deficit, automatically slash funding to federal programs.
The approved budget, which lasts through September, generally increases allocations for research funding from the level enacted under the sequestration, but these amounts were lower than the funding levels prior to the across-the-board cuts.
Chris Harrington, spokesman for the UC’s office in Washington, D.C., said the increases in funding were promising butthe University will advocate for more increases in certain federal programs, including the Federal Work-Study aid program and graduate education.
“The previous year’s sequestration cuts had an adverse effect on a number of research enterprises at the University,” Harrington said. “So we are doing better than last year, but we hope the federal government will continue to make greater investments in advancing our goals in education, research and health care.”
The National Institutes of Health, one of the major sources of research capital for UCLA, will obtain a funding increase of $1 billion from last year to $29.9 billion, but that amount is $714 million short of what it received before the sequestration began in March. Still, the increase will cover operating costs of current research as well as 385 new studies, according to a statement from Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.
The federal Pell Grant program will maintain its level from 2013 at $22.8 billion. The total maximum award is expected to rise to $5,730, an increase of $85, according to Harkin’s statement.
Funding for the Federal Work-Study Program, which helps cover higher education costs with part-time employment, will expand by $49 million from 2013 to $975 million. The Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program, which provides aid to college students with the greatest need, will also see a $37 million growth for a total of $733 million.
The federal budget is up for discussion at Wednesday’s UC Board of Regents bimonthly meeting at UC San Francisco. Federal funding is “the University’s single most important source of support for research,” according to a document from the UCOP.
Compiled by Emily Suh, Bruin senior staff.