On March 11, President Joe Biden signed the FY22 omnibus appropriations bill 

On March 11, President Joe Biden signed the FY22 omnibus appropriations bill – H.R. 2471, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 – to fund the federal government until the end of the current fiscal year, ending September 30, 2022.

The following is a summary of appropriations that impact the University of Oregon and other higher education institutions and research universities:

Financial Aid: The omnibus funds the Pell Grant program at $22.475 billion and in combination with mandatory funding the maximum award is increased by $400 to $6,895, the biggest increase in a decade. A coalition of higher education institutions, including the University of Oregon, are attempting to double the Pell Grant to $13,000 through a multi-year advocacy campaign.

Federal Work Study (FWS) is funded at $1.21 billion, a $21 million, or 1.8% increase above FY21.

Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (SEOG) is funded at $895 million, a $15million, or 1.7 % increase over FY21.

Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) is funded at $23.55 million, 0.2% increase over FY21.

FY22 funding for federal agencies and programs of interest to the UO and other research universities includes the following.

National Institutes of Health (NIH): The omnibus provides funding for NIH at $45.184 billion, an increase of $2.25 billion, or 4.7%, increase above the FY21 level.

Department of Education (ED): Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is funded at $737.02 million, a $94.4 million, or 14.7% increase above FY21. However, most of the increase is related to a shifting of a line item that used to be in a different ED budget to the IES budget; the research and development line item includes more than a 4% increase over FY 21.International Education and Foreign Language Studies (Title VI) is funded at $81.66 million, a 4.7% increase over FY21.

 National Science Foundation (NSF): The omnibus provides $7.8 billion for NSF, an increase of $295 million, or 4 percent, above the FY17 funding level. The Research and Related Activities Directorate receives an appropriation of $6.33 billion, which is an increase of $301 million over FY17. The Education and Human Resources Directorate receives $902 million, an increase of $22 million over FY17. The omnibus also includes $182.8 million for Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction, which is a $26 million decrease from FY17.

Department of Energy (DOE): The omnibus provides $7.475 billion for the DOE Office of Science, an increase of $449 million, or 6.4%, above FY21. The measure also funds the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) at $450 million, a $23 million, or 15%, increase above FY21.

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): The omnibus provides $180 million for NEH, a $12.5 million, or 7.5%, increase above the FY21 funding level.

Department of Defense (DOD): The measure includes $2.76 billion for 6.1 basic research, a $92 million, or 3%, increase above FY21. The bill provides funding for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) at $3.87 billion, an increase of 10.5% over FY21.

Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI): The omnibus provides $445 million for AFRI, a $10 million, or 2.3%, increase above the FY21 funding level.

Other Provisions of Interest

ARPA-H: The bill includes $1 billion to establish ARPA-H within the HHS Office of the Secretary to accelerate the pace of scientific breakthroughs for diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and cancer.