One Month to Go: Status of Key Science Funding Bills
When Congress returns next week they will have less than one month to complete work on thirteen appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 1996, which begins at midnight one month from today. It is going to be an impossible workload, since in addition to these bills, Congress will be considering changes to tax, Medicare and Medicaid, and welfare programs. The following is the current status of key science appropriations (funding) bills tracked by FYI:
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE: H.R. 2076, the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Bill for FY 1996, has passed the House, and is awaiting action in the Senate. Under this bill, the NIST appropriation for Scientific and Technical Research and Services is $263.0 million, which is $47.7 million below the administration’s request. No funding was provided for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), although Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program funding was provided. Possibly overriding this bill will be moves made during the budget reconciliation process to dismantle the Department of Commerce. President Clinton has indicated that he will veto any bill dismantling the Department; also note that the ATP Program is a high priority of the administration. For additional details, see FYIs #103 and 108.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: Both the House and Senate have passed differing versions of H.R. 1905, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for FY 1996. House and Senate conferees will struggle over bridging a $1.5 billion, or approximately a 10%, difference in the total DOE appropriation levels between the two bills (with the Senate bill containing the higher budget.) Both versions agree on the Nuclear Physics appropriation and the Basic Energy Sciences appropriation, but differ over funding levels for the High Energy Physics appropriation (with the House figure higher.) Differences in the Fusion Energy appropriation levels are much smaller; both are more than 38% below the current budget. It is uncertain if the President will veto this bill. See FYIs #110, 111, and 112 for additional details.
NASA: H.R. 2099, the VA, HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill for FY 1996 was passed by the House on July 31, and is awaiting action in the Senate. The House version of this bill provides $13.67 billion for NASA; the administration request was $14.26 billion. The space station is fully funded; space science was increased over the request for a total of $1.98 billion. Because of its EPA language, the President has promised to veto this bill, if not changed, “the minute this polluter’s protection act hits my desk.” See FYIs #109 and 113 for additional details.
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: NSF funding is also provided by H.R. 2099. The House’s version of this bill provides $3.16 billion for NSF, compared to a request of $3.36 billion. Research and Related Activities funding was set at $2.25 billion; the request was $2.45 billion. Education and Human Resources, Academic Research Infrastructure, and Major Research Equipment budgets were provided at the requested levels. Note the above regarding a possible presidential veto of this legislation. See FYIs #101, 109, and 113 for additional details.
OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT: Both the House and Senate have passed their versions of H.R. 1854, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill for FY 1996. A conference committee has arrived at final language which must be approved by an up-or-down vote in each chamber before it is sent to the President. This conference language terminates the Office of Technology Assessment. It is not known what action the President will take regarding this legislation. See FYIs #104 and 109 for additional details.
The Senate reconvenes on September 5 and the House the following day. Fiscal Year 1996 begins on October 1, with many inside and outside the government predicting numerous “train wrecks” when President Clinton vetoes appropriations bills. It is impossible to predict when, and in what form, final appropriations bills will be passed. Note that data about these and other science funding bills is now available on a WWW site maintained by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (http://www.aaas.org ).
