Major Science Policy and Funding Bills Move to the Front Burner
The first five months of the 104th Congress are going to seem like a walk in the park compared to what Congress will tackle when it returns next week from its Memorial Day recess. Passing thirteen appropriations bills has never been easy; this year it will be even more confrontational. Add to this a host of authorization bills to be passed. It is going to be a long summer and fall, and that is even before the president picks up his veto pen.
One need look no further than next week’s schedule of the House Committee on Science to get an indication of what lies in store for returning Members. On Wednesday, Rep. James Sensenbrenner’s (R-WI) subcommittee will mark-up the International Space Station Authorization Act. The next day, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s (R-CA) subcommittee will mark-up the DOE R&D Authorization Act, the NOAA Authorization Act, and the EPA R&D Authorization Act. An NSF reauthorization bill is being drafted, and parallel efforts in the Senate are underway. Unknown is the degree of cooperation committee Democrats will provide; Rep. George Brown (D-CA) caused the earlier postponement of the space station bill because of his concern about Republican spending plans. The bipartisan spirit that was a trademark of this committee seems to be waning. While science-related authorization legislation has not played a large role in previous Congresses, Republican leaders want to use this mechanism to set policy and spending caps before the main event gets underway: the drafting of the appropriations bills.
The outlook on the appropriations front is even more unsettled. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have been traditionally insulated from politics because of their huge work loads and the absolute necessity of passing their bills on time. This is largely no longer true in the House. First steps are now being taken in these committees to draft legislation. Tentative allocations to each of the House thirteen appropriations subcommittees are out (with final allocations to be determined following agreement between the House and Senate on a FY 1996 Budget Resolution.) The House VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies (NSF and NASA), Energy and Water Development (DOE), and Commerce, Justice, State (NIST) appropriations subcommittees all face cuts in their FY 1996 allocations. New starts are in particular peril since House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston (R-LA) does not want subcommittees to make small cuts in programs to meet spending targets, instead favoring termination of programs that are unlikely to survive in the future budget climate. There will be additional cuts if Congress and President Clinton are unable to agree on reductions in this year’s spending.
The outlook for NSF is better than for most of the R&D budgets if the House VA, HUD subcommittee follows the recommendations in the House Budget Resolution. NASA spending would be further reduced, although the space station would be funded in full. The resolution calls for the abolishment of the Departments of Energy and Commerce and the Office of Technology Assessment, so what will happen with these appropriations is anyone’s guess.
