Senate Votes Wednesday on Senate Funding Language for NTIA, USDA, Others at Commerce
The Senate expects to hold a cloture vote Wednesday on an amendment from Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., that seeks to replace the text of the House-passed “minibus” FY 2020 budget bill (HR-3055) that includes funding for NTIA,…
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other Commerce Department agencies and the Agriculture Department with similar Senate Appropriations Committee-cleared measures S-2522 and S-2584 (see 1909240053 and 1910080043). Both bills would allocate $42.4 million to NTIA and $3.45 billion to the Patent and Trademark Office. The Senate bill would allocate $753 million to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, $2 million more than in HR-3055 and $353 million above what President Donald Trump's administration said it wanted (see 1903180063). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed cloture on the amendment Monday. McConnell also filed cloture on the House-passed FY 2020 minibus budget bill (HR-2740) that aimed to increase CPB's annual funding to $495 million. Senate leaders have been eyeing replacing the House-passed legislative language with a Senate Appropriations substitute that would maintain CPB's annual funding at $445 million, despite the increase sought by America’s Public Television Stations (see 1909180058). The Senate version also includes $20 million for upgrades to the public broadcasting interconnection system. The Trump administration proposed in March to wind down and then cut off CPB federal funding.