On March 24, Rep. Judy Biggert's (R-IL) energy subcommittee of the
House Science Committee reviewed the FY 2005 budget plans for R&D
programs within the Department of Energy. Biggert voiced her displeasure
with the FY 2005 request for the Office of Science, saying that Congress
had clearly indicated its support for stronger funding by authorizing
substantially higher amounts in both the House- and Senate-passed versions
of the energy bill and by providing more than the President requested
in FY 2004. However, she warned that this year Congress was "operating
in the most constrained budget environment in many years," and
much of her questioning reflected the possibility that, in spite of
the best intentions of many Members of Congress, the office might face
cuts in FY 2005. Other committee members called for studies on the
economic benefits of DOE basic research, and raised questions about
the loss of high-tech jobs, the future demand for S&T workers,
and the role of science, technology and innovation in job creation.
The Administration's FY 2005 request for the Office of Science is
$3.4 billion, a 2.0 percent decrease from FY 2004. Office of Science
Principal Deputy Director James Decker testified that the proposed
funding would allow the office to maintain research in critical areas
of science, increase scientific user facility operations from 92 percent
to 95 percent of optimal use, and support continued construction of
the Spallation Neutron Source and construction of four nanoscience
research centers. It would also enable the office to contribute to
the President's hydrogen initiative and begin preparations for some
new projects identified in the facilities roadmap, including the Rare
Isotope Accelerator, the LINAC coherent light source, high-end computing
facilities, the genomes to life program and, with NASA, a joint dark
energy mission. Balancing the construction of new, cutting edge facilities
against ongoing operations for existing facilities and support for
research and researchers at those facilities, Decker said, is "a
continuing problem that we have every year." When asked how the
additional money would be spent if Congress provided a more than the
budget request, he declared that one of the top priorities was operating
the user facilities at their full capacity. Other high priorities,
he said, included ITER and high-end computation.
NASA seemed to have "a lack of enthusiasm" for the dark
energy mission, Biggert commented, pointing out that the project is
not included in the space agency's FY 2005 budget or its five-year
planning horizon. Decker said DOE and NASA were holding discussions
to address the issue, but he could not say what DOE would do if the
NASA funding was not restored.
Both Biggert and Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) expressed interest in the
Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) project. Decker reported that DOE was
preparing a mission needs statement for the RIA, but had not yet made
the decision to move forward with construction. When asked which new
facilities project was least likely to suffer from a delay in funding,
Decker admitted that, "if we have real budget problems," the
RIA, as the only project in the billion-dollar range, would likely
be the one delayed. Ehlers indicated that he might "seek to supplement" funding
for the project in the FY 2005 budget.
Ranking Minority Member John Larson (D-CT) raised questions about
how R&D can create new jobs for the country, and how R&D activities
impact local industry and economies. While some general studies and
a lot of anecdotal evidence point to the economic benefits of R&D,
Decker said, "we need to develop that story better." Larson
and Biggert encouraged more comprehensive studies of this issue, with
Larson saying, "it would be nice to prove that the science community
is a value-added community." Larson also had many questions about
President Bush's hydrogen initiative and called for incentives or mandates
forcing government vehicle fleets to use fuel cell technology in order
to create a market for it. David Garman, the Assistant Secretary for
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, agreed that the government
and the military were "very important first customers," but
argued that it was too early for such steps; "a lot of groundwork
needs to be laid for this hydrogen economy."
To a question about DOE's need for a scientific workforce, Decker
remarked that he had recently been "surprised to learn" that
the number of undergraduate physics students had actually increased,
after years of decline. (According to the latest Enrollments and Degrees
report from AIP's Statistical Research Center, undergraduate physics
degree production increased in the classes of 2000 and 2001 after declining
for a decade; the report can be found at http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/highlite/ed/edhigh.htm.)
However, Decker and Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology
Director William Magwood agreed that an adequate supply of U.S. citizens
entering science and engineering was still an issue for DOE and other
federal agencies, especially those involved in national security and
defense. Biggert ended the hearing with what she called a "plug" for
her recently-introduced bill, H.R. 3828, which would authorize funding
for DOE to support university nuclear science, engineering, and health
physics programs.
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