NSF, NASA, Some NIST Funding Assured Through March 15

With only hours to spare, Congress approved short-term funding last week for a number of departments and agencies still lacking an FY 1996 appropriation. Among them are NSF, NASA, and NIST. Funding is assured through March 15. The following is the funding status for departments and agencies tracked by FYI:

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: An full year appropriations bill was signed last fall (see 1995 FYI #154.)

NASA: Funding is provided through March 15 by H.R. 2880, the stopgap spending bill signed last week. Under the provisions of this legislation, NASA can spend at a rate based on the budget contained in the FY 1996 VA, HUD, Independent Agencies Appropriations Act passed last fall but vetoed by the president (see 1995 FYI #167.) NASA is specifically mentioned once in H.R. 2880, instructing the agency to transfer its Yellow Creek Facility to the State of Mississippi.

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY: H.R. 2880 provides funding for the operations of NIST’s core programs based on the budget contained in the FY 1996 Commerce, Justice, and State, and the Judiciary Appropriations Act passed last year, but also vetoed by the president (see 1995 FYI #170.) H.R. 2880 explicitly narrows funding for NIST’s Advanced Technology Program, stating that the rate of spending is 75% of FY 1995 funding, and is “for operations only for program administration and the continuation of grants awarded in fiscal year 1995 and prior years of the Advanced Technology Program.” The effect which this has is that no new ATP grants can be made until a long-term appropriation is signed.

The Commerce Department states that uncertain funding has meant that “Research and development grants to university and industry partners will continue to be delayed due to funding uncertainties.” In addition, “Researchers cannot plan to use NIST’s Research Reactor and Cold Neutron Research Facility, which would be closed during a future shutdown. In a typical month, the NIST facility supports more than 200 experiments involving hundreds of researchers in U.S. companies and universities in materials science, biology, and microelectronics.”

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: As is true for NASA, H.R. 2880 provides funding based on the NSF appropriation passed last year by Congress, but vetoed by the president (see 1995 FYI #163.) NSF is not specifically mentioned in the stopgap funding bill.

A FINAL NOTE: House Appropriations Chairman Bob Livingston (R-LA) has received numerous letters about the uncertain funding situation for science agencies -- one report stating that the pile of correspondence is 1 1/2" high.