The Senate’s Turn: Appropriations Recommendation on NSF, NASA

Yesterday afternoon, the Senate VA/HUD Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its version of H.R. 2158, the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill. The science policy community here in Washington was holding its breath because the amount of money this subcommittee had to spend (its 602(b) allocation) was significantly less than its House counterpart. Some details about the National Science Foundation’s and NASA’s FY 1998 requests have become available. Judging how they did in the Senate bill is a matter of perspective: Senate appropriators provided the full amount NSF and NASA requested in all budget categories, and increased the amount above the request for NSF’s Research and Related Activities budget. However, in all cases the Senate numbers listed below are less than those found in the House bill.

So where does this leave NSF and NASA? After the House completes action on its version of H.R. 2158, perhaps today, it will wait for the Senate. The full Senate Appropriations Committee will consider its subcommittee’s bill tomorrow. The full Senate will then be free to act on the bill. A conference committee composed of members of both House and Senate appropriations subcommittees will then meet behind closed doors to resolve differences in budget numbers and report language. While this could occur before the August recess, it is more likely to be scheduled for September.

Here are the numbers:

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION:

NSF TOTAL: $3.377 billion. Senate appropriators provided $10 million more than the administration’s request, but $110 million less than the House. For comparison purposes, the administration’s over-all FY 1998 request was an increase of 3.0% above the current year. The Senate recommendation is an increase of 3.3%. The House figure is an increase of 6.6%.

RESEARCH AND RELATED ACTIVITIES: $2.524 billion. This is $10 million above the request, and is where the above additional $10 million comes in. House appropriators provided $13 million more.

MAJOR RESEARCH EQUIPMENT: $85 million -- the amount requested by the administration for LIGO, the Polar Cap Observatory, and the South Pole Station work. Apparently Senate appropriators shifted some money from the Millimeter Array Radio Telescope to the Gemini project. The Senate did not provide full up-front funding for the South Pole Station work, as the House appropriators did.

EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES: $625 million -- again, the amount requested by the administration, but $7 million less the House number.

NASA:

NASA TOTAL: $13.500 billion -- the amount requested by the administration, but $148 million less than the House. The current budget is $13.709 billion.

SCIENCE, AERONAUTICS AND TECHNOLOGY: $5.642 billion -- the amount requested by the administration, but $48 million less than the House.

HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT: $5.326 billion -- again, the amount requested by the administration, but $100 million less than the House.

A future FYI will detail the “fine print” of the Senate Appropriations Committee report.