Senate Appropriations Committee Report Recommendations on NSF
When a congressional committee sends a bill to the floor of the House or Senate, it is usually accompanied by a report providing the committee’s rationale or recommendations. While this does not have the force of law, report language can be very important in the guidance its gives to a federal agency, as well as providing indications of congressional concern. Accompanying H.R. 2099, the VA, HUD, Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill for FY 1996, is a Senate Appropriations Committee report (104-140) with language on the National Science Foundation. Selected portions of this language follow. See FYI #131 for report language on the U.S. Antarctic Program.
RESEARCH AND RELATED ACTIVITIES: “The [$160 million] reduction [from the President’s request] recommended by the Committee is a general reduction to be applied at the Foundation’s discretion, subject to normal reprogramming guidelines. The Committee urges NSF to consider actions it might take to enhance the linkages between research and education at both the graduate and undergraduate level.
“NSF-Supported Centers. - NSF currently manages a multitude of centers including the science and technology centers, engineering research centers, materials research centers, and so on. The Committee recommends an independent review to determine NSF’s effectiveness in managing these various center programs. The review should build on the review completed by the National Academy of Public Administration and examine methods used for evaluating performance, discontinuing weak centers, and encouraging centers to seek financial independence where appropriate. The review should also recommend ways to strengthen coordination between programs and opportunities for restructuring or consolidating programs.
“Optical and Infrared Astronomy. - The report from the National Academy of Sciences on ground-based optical and infrared astronomy recommends that a modest level of Federal funds for facilities instrumentation be allocated only to independent observatories that agree to provide national access to their facilities in proportion to the funds provided. Although current budget restraints make funding this activity difficult, the Committee believes that the Foundation should explore other sources to initiative this innovative concept. One possibility is the `Academic research infrastructure’ account. In that connection, the Committee strongly urges that the NSF modify current programmatic guidelines as necessary to enable astronomy facility proposals to compete for an increased share of the academic research infrastructure funds.
“Opportunity Fund. - Last year the Committee provided the Foundation with encouragement to create an opportunity fund to assist the Foundation in responding quickly to emerging or unique opportunities in science and engineering. The Committee also supported the Foundation’s proposal to create an office of multidisciplinary activities within the mathematical and physical sciences activity. This office was created, in part, as a way to more strategically leverage the directorate’s resources. The Committee reiterates its support for the use of these management tools and expects the Foundation to provide an update as part of its current plan submission, and include a description of the use of these authorities in the justification accompanying the NSF budget request.” [The current plan is a more detailed plan NSF submits to Congress for its approval, after final passage of the appropriations bill, outlining spending in the new fiscal year.]
Arctic Research Vessel - The report asks for NSF to respond to a forthcoming National Academy of Sciences study and a General Accounting Office report on Arctic research vessels, and “determine the need for an Arctic research vessel given scientific and budgetary considerations.”
MAJOR RESEARCH EQUIPMENT: “Projects supported by this appropriation will push the boundaries of technological design and will offer significant expansion of opportunities, often in new directions, for the science and engineering community.” The Senate report recommends providing the full request for LIGO (which is the only project for which funding is requested), as did the House bill.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE: Also funded in full by the committee, which states: “The Committee expects these funds to continue to apply to both facilities and instrumentation modernization.”
EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES: The appropriations committee also provides the full request for a variety of programs funded by this account. The report make specific recommendations about two programs, stating (in part): “The EPSCoR is vital in providing research dollars to a broad array of capable institutions in a more equitable geographical distribution. In order to ensure that NSF continue to support nationally competitive academic research, maintaining funds for EPSCoR is critical. The Committee strongly urges the National Science Foundation to continue the competitive, merit-based program to support the efforts of States to develop electronic libraries. These libraries shall provide delivery of and access to a variety of data bases, computer programs, and interactive multimedia presentations, including educational materials, research information, statistics, and reports developed by Federal, State and local governments, and other information and information services which can be carried over computer networks.”
U.S. ANTARCTIC PROGRAM: See FYI #131.
