National Science Foundation Budget Comes Into Focus

Although it will be months before President Clinton signs into law the National Science Foundation appropriation for FY 1996, an important step in this process occurred earlier this week. House Basic Research Subcommittee Chairman Steven Schiff (R-NM) and his colleagues marked up an NSF authorization bill for FY 1996 and 1997. The bottom line: NSF’s budget is capped at $3,126.00 million for FY 1996 and $3,171.40 million for the following year. NSF’s current year budget is $3,263.65 million; the administration requested $3,360.00 million for FY 1996.

The “main event” gets underway next week when the House VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee meets to mark up their bill. Now scheduled for June 22, with full committee action on July 11, this bill will contain the first set of firm numbers on NSF’s FY 1996 budget. But make no mistake, in this Congress, budget-making is moving in a more orderly process, and authorizing legislation is taking on considerable importance. As he predicted, the numbers in the House Budget Resolution are being used by House Science Committee Chairman Robert Walker (R-PA) to set budget ceilings for his subcommittees to use as they write their bills. If initial indications are correct, the appropriations subcommittees are using the authorizing bills to guide their appropriations (see FYIs #79 and 80.) While neither the budget resolution or authorizing bills are “final,” the House Science Committee leadership is treating them as if they are. So while the figures in H.R. 1852, the “National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 1995" are not final, they are likely to be in the ballpark. Here are the FY 1996 authorization levels, or the upper limits on what the VA, HUD appropriators are supposed to provide for selected NSF activities:

Over-all NSF FY 1996 Authorization: $3,126.00 million. Current budget: $3,263.65 million. Administration FY 1996 request: $3,360.00 million.

Research and Related Activities (R&RA) FY 1996 Authorization: $2,226.30 million. Current budget: $2,280.00 million. Administration FY 1996 request: $2,454.00 million.

Mathematical and Physical Sciences FY 1996 Authorization (a component of the R&RA budget funding physics, astronomy, and materials research): $632.20 million. Current budget: $644.57 million. Administration FY 1996 request: $698.28 million.

Geosciences FY 1996 Authorization (a component of the R&RA budget): $408.80 million. Current budget: $419.49 million. Administration FY 1996 request: $451.48 million.

Education and Human Resources FY 1996 Authorization (separate from R&RA, as are all budgets below): $600.00 million. Current budget: $614.03 million. Administration request: $599.00 million.

Major Research Equipment FY 1996 Authorization (which in FY 1996 consists solely of funding for LIGO): $70.00 million. Current budget: $126.00 million. Administration FY 1996 request: $70.00 million.

Academic Research Facilities Modernization Program FY 1996 Authorization: $100.00 million. Current budget: $118.13 million. Administration FY 1996 request: $100.00 million.

The subcommittee mark up of this NSF bill was smoother than that last week for the Department of Energy R&D authorization bill, a reflection perhaps of the different styles of the chairmen. Chairman Schiff began by saying that “NSF is a well-run agency, with a well-defined mission. While I will conduct oversight of its operations, I do not want to make substantial reforms at this time.”

Schiff’s sentiments were reflected in the bill that was before the subcommittee. It stated, “the primary mission of the Foundation continues to be the support of basic scientific research and science education and the support of research fundamental to the engineering process and engineering education; and the Foundation’s efforts to contribute to the economic competitiveness of the United States should be in accord with that primary mission.” Language later in the bill calls for an annual report which will define “over-all goals for the Foundation and specific goals for each major activity of the Foundation....” The report should “describe how the identified goals relate to national needs and will exploit new opportunities in science and technology.”

The Ranking Democratic Member of the subcommittee, Pete Geren (D-TX) said “the chairman has made the best of a difficult situation; and, although the bill before us represents a decrease in funding for NSF, it is a fair allocation that provides relatively gentle treatment for NSF in a year in which many federal science and technology programs authorized by the committee have experienced, or are facing the prospect of, severe cuts.” Geren and Rep. George Brown (D-CA) commented favorably on the bipartisan spirit in the subcommittee.

Five amendments were considered. The first made a technical change to the bill’s anti-lobbying provision, which states that no funds authorized by this act are to be used for lobbying. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) offered an amendment to strengthen the link between research and education at universities. The subcommittee agreed by voice vote to Boehlert’s requirement that the NSF director provide a plan to implement the following requirement: “The impact that a grant or cooperative agreement by the NSF would have on undergraduate and graduate education at an institution of higher education shall be a factor in any decision whether to award such grant or agreement to that institution.” Boehlert promised to revisit this issue in two years if he is not satisfied with the results of this open-ended amendment.

The subcommittee also agreed to language that permits increasing the NSF authorization if future budgetary circumstances permit. It voted down (15 no - 8 yes) an amendment to immediately increase authorization levels, in large measure because the higher levels would breach the figures in the House Budget Resolution. And, in an informal show of hands, subcommittee members declined to rename NSF as the National Science and Engineering Foundation.

On June 22, the full House Science Committee will mark up this NSF bill (H.R. 1852), and one of the NIST bills. On June 20, it will mark up H.R. 1816, the DOE Civilian R&D Authorization Act and H.R. 1601, the International Space Station Authorization Act.