NSF To Receive 10% Increase in Funding for New Fiscal Year
Work has almost been completed on the funding bill for the National Science Foundation. Last Friday, Chairmen Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland), and their colleagues completed work on the final version of H.R. 2491, the VA, HUD, Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 1994. Later this week the House and Senate will give their final approval to the conference report for H.R. 2491, and except for the president’s signature, NSF will have completed another year of the appropriations process.
This is now known about the NSF component of the conference report:
OVER-ALL FUNDING: Increases 10% to $3,005.3 million. Last year’s increase was 6.3%.
RESEARCH AND RELATED ACTIVITIES: Increases 7% to $1,986 million, a compromise between the 10% House increase and the 4% Senate figure. Last year’s bill cut Research funding from the previous level.
EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES: Increases 17% to $569.6 million. This is $13.5 million above the Clinton Administration’s request. Last year’s increase was 4.7%.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH FACILITIES AND INSTRUMENTATION: No doubt responding to an ever-growing backlog of modernization needs, House and Senate conferees increased this funding by 100% to $100 million. This is $45 million above the administration’s request.
Within the next few days the full conference report will be available, containing final language on such issues as the future of NSF (there is no definitive information on this subject.) The following details are known about other NSF areas of the bill:
HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATIONS: Cut by $12.5 million from the administration’s request. As dramatic as this decrease appears, it could have been worse -- the Senate earlier voted to cut $50 million from this activity.
CENTERS: The Senate dropped its “no new centers” language.
Further information on the National Science Foundation component of the conference report, as well as that pertaining to NASA, will be provided in future issues of FYI. NSF’s budget increase was the highest of any department or agency funded under H.R. 2491, and is set against a backdrop of a 2% increase in the bill’s over-all funding level.
