Rep. Ehlers Urges Full Funding for NSF
As reported in FYI #17, the January 26 passage of another stopgap spending bill (H.R. 2880) ensures funding for the National Science Foundation through March 15. However, the uncertainty of the funding situation beyond that date has forced NSF to delay issuing many new and continuing grants, a result that is being felt in universities across the country. The science community has begun to respond, informing their Members of Congress of the disruption to America’s research effort.
Eighty-eight Representatives have co-signed a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston (R-LA) and VA/HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA), urging that full-year funding for the remainder of the 1996 fiscal year be provided for NSF as soon as possible. The signatories will be listed in FYI #19. The letter, dated February 2, was initiated by Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI), the only PhD physicist in Congress. It states:
“Dear Chairman Livingston and Chairman Lewis;
“On January 5th, we provided full-year funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) because scientific and medical research suffer devastating damage if they are subjected to interruption or abrupt loss of funding.
“Unfortunately, the same funding assurance was not provided the National Science Foundation (NSF), and damage to our scientific enterprise is beginning to occur. Because the NSF is primarily a granting agency, this damage is beginning to occur in thousands of university laboratories and research centers, large and small, throughout our nation. We can assure you that, without correction, it may likely become even more severe.
“We will not trouble you with a list of horror stories, although we could. Rather, let us simply state that a number of major scientists have alerted us to many problems which are beginning to become evident, such as grants being held up, that put us at risk of losing highly skilled technical people from programs receiving grants from NSF. Such people are not easily replaced, and new hires to replace them would need extensive, specialized training. Worst of all, without certainty that grants will be awarded or continued, scientific programs are unable to attract the top-flight, world-renowned scientists needed to maintain our nation’s leadership in scientific research. It is especially important to note that research done now provides the foundation for our future economic development. While we are currently harming our scientific effort, the Japanese have just decided to INCREASE their overall research effort by 8% in order to fund research and development, which will assist their lagging economy.
“We urge you to do whatever possible to provide full-year funding for the NSF as soon as possible. We stand ready to assist you in any way we can help.”
