What To Expect: Appropriations Process Underway
The outlook for key funding legislation for federal R&D programs comes into focus today when the House VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee completes work on its FY 1997 spending bill. Funding for the National Science Foundation and NASA is in this bill. By July 4, the House is scheduled to complete action on this bill, and appropriations bills for the Department of Energy and Department of Commerce.
What does all of this mean, and how does it work? Appropriations bills provide the annual funding for a department or agency. They differ from authorization legislation that is the purview of committees such as the House Science Committee, whose bills set general program direction and funding limits.
The House usually acts before the Senate on appropriations legislation. After an appropriations subcommittee writes and then votes on a bill, they send it to the full appropriations committee. The committee usually approves the bill without significant changes, and sends it to the floor. Accompanying the bill is a committee report with nonbinding recommendations. These recommendations can be quite specific, although they do not have the full force of law.
Appropriations bills can be amended on either the House or Senate floor. It was on the House floor in previous years that SSC funding was killed, and space station funding provided, both actions in opposition to original committee bills. Last year, there was an unsuccessful attempt on the House floor to shift funding from NSF and NASA to veterans’ medical care. FYI #85 provides the roll call vote on this amendment.
Following passage on the House floor, the counterpart Senate appropriations subcommittee writes its own version of the bill. It follows the same basic steps.
Differences between the two versions of an appropriations bill are resolved by a conference committee drawn from the original subcommittees’ membership. The full House and Senate vote on this newest version of the bill, now called a conference report. If passed, the bill goes to the president.
So what is the outlook for appropriations legislation this year? There is rising discontent with the way discretionary funding was allocated among various appropriations subcommittees for FY 1997 (see FYI #81.) Top administration officials are warning that some funding levels are inadequate, suggesting that the level of defense appropriations be cut, with the savings reapportioned among domestic programs. Some House Democrats are warning of presidential vetoes, and government shutdowns. Senate leaders are seeking to increase spending for domestic programs, causing House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston (R-LA) to say of the allocations, “Don’t expect that this is going to be the final word. . . . I expect we will be back here . . . making modifications.”
There is real concern about the low House allocation for the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee. House subcommittee chairman John Myers (R-IN) said, “We’re going to have to see some relief at some point.” His Senate counterpart, Peter Domenici (R-NM), a big supporter of DOE’s national laboratories, is taking action in his own chamber to increase the amount of money available for all domestic spending. It is expected that this would result in more money for the energy bill.
An increase in the allocation for Myers’ subcommittee will make the task of writing his FY 1997 bill much easier, although it has yet to be determined what the source of this additional money will be. Right now, Myers is telling his colleagues seeking money for water projects: “I’ve just got to warn you: Don’t come around begging again. The tin cup’s empty.”
FYI will summarize the NSF and NASA portions of the VA, HUD appropriations bill as they become available over the next few days. On a different front, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has postponed action on H.R. 3008, the helium reserve bill, until June 12.
