Congress began its August district and state work period Friday without having approved any of the FY15 appropriations bills needed to keep the federal government operating when the 2015 fiscal year begins on October 1, 2014. The current impasse between the House and Senate is expected to lead to the approval of a short-term funding bill or continuing resolution, which would carry federal spending at its current levels into early December, following the November mid-term elections. Congress would then need to pass an omnibus budget bill to resolving FY2015 spending.

So far, the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved eight of its twelve FY15 funding bills, but none has been approved by the full Senate. The Interior-Environment bill has not been considered in subcommittee, but the Senate panel has released draft subcommittee bills and reports for the Energy & Water, Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, and Financial Services bills.

The House Appropriations Committee has approved eleven of its bills—all but Labor-HHS-Education—with full House approval of seven: Commerce-Justice-Science, Defense, Energy & Water, Financial Services, Legislative Branch, Military Construction-Veterans, and Transportation.

The latest information on Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ (APLU) funding priorities can be viewed here: http://www.aau.edu/uploadedFiles/Budget_and_Appropriations/FY15_Budget_and_Appropriations_Information/FY14_Budget/AAU%20Priorities%20Table%20FY15%282%29.pdf