House Passes FY97 Appropriations Bill for NSF, NASA

Earlier this week, the House of Representatives considered H.R. 3666, the VA/HUD/Independent Agencies appropriations bill for fiscal year 1997. The bill, which funds NSF and NASA among other programs, was passed late in the evening on Wednesday, June 26, after some significant changes. Both NSF and NASA are affected by amendments passed on the House floor.

The House approved an amendment by Rep. Bob Stump (R-AZ) to increase funding for veterans’ programs by an across-the-board reduction of 0.4 percent to all other programs funded by the bill. This would decrease the NSF total by $13 million, from $3.253 billion as approved by the House Appropriations Committee, to $3.240 billion. It would decrease NASA’s FY 1997 total by about $54 million, from the $13.60 billion approved by the Appropriations Committee, to $13.55 billion. Stump’s amendment passed by voice vote. (See FYIs #96, 97 for details of the House Appropriations Committee report language.)

Another amendment, by Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-NY), would disallow agencies funded under the bill to make grants to any college or university that did not allow ROTC or military recruiters to operate on campus.

Also relevant to NSF, an amendment offered by Science Committee Chairman Bob Walker (R-PA) to shift $9.1 million from NSF Salaries and Expenses to Research and Related Activities (R&RA) was approved, 245 to 170. As a result, NSF’s Salaries and Expenses account would decrease to $125 million, while its R&RA account would increase to $2.431 billion (these calculations do not take into account the 0.4% general reduction.)

To eliminate an earmark within the NASA portion of the bill, Rep. George Brown (D-CA) offered an amendment prohibiting $13 million within the Mission to Planet Earth account from being specified for the National Center for Science Literacy, Education and Technology at the American Museum of Natural History, as was directed in the House Appropriations Committee report. This amendment was approved by voice vote. Much floor debate focused on NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth, which the bill funds at $1.2 billion (before the 0.4% general reduction) instead of the requested $1.4 billion. VA/HUD Appropriations Chair Jerry Lewis (R-CA) made it clear he expects that figure to be renegotiated in conference, noting that “there is strong bipartisan support for Mission to Planet Earth and its programs in the Senate.”

Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN) was successful with an amendment to prohibit NASA from contributing to a joint French-Russian space mission that would use monkeys as test subjects. A Roemer amendment to reduce space station funding by $75 million was rejected, however, as were several amendments to shift funding from NASA into housing programs.

Late into the second day of debate, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) achieved passage of a amendment effectively killing President Clinton’s National Service Program. This occurred even after several similar attempts had been rejected previously. Lewis cautioned that such an action had resulted in a veto of the VA/HUD bill last year and would probably do so again. “There is no way that I can see where this bill can be signed into law without funding for the [program.] I mean it made the bill veto bait [during] the fiscal year 1996 debate,” he said.

Before it goes to the President, the bill must be taken up by the Senate, which will draft its own version. The two chambers will then go to conference to work out a compromise. The Senate VA/HUD Appropriations Subcommittee is expected to take up H.R. 3666 soon after it returns from its Independence Day recess on July 15. Further details of the House-passed bill and highlights from the debate will be provided in subsequent FYIs.