Good News: DOE FY99 Appropriations Passed
With the beginning of fiscal year 1999 now only a day away, Congress has agreed on funding amounts for DOE’s civilian R&D programs in the FY 1999 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill (H.R. 4060, Conference Report 105-749.) The full House approved the final bill on September 28; the Senate on September 29. It now goes to President Clinton for signing. Of the programs tracked by FYI, most will probably receive at least what they requested, if not more.
The conference report which accompanies the bill proposes renaming the Office of Energy Research as the Office of Science. Within this office, the conferees recommend more funding for High Energy and Nuclear Physics than requested by the Administration, while Basic Energy Sciences (BES) would receive less. Within BES, the Spallation Neutron Source would get $130 million for construction and related R&D. The conferees would fund Fusion Energy Sciences at slightly more than the Administration requested. ITER would receive $12.2 million to complete some R&D and for closeout costs.
However, the conference report then specifies a number of reductions and adjustments to be applied to the programs within the Science Office. Funding for all the above programs may be reduced somewhat after these adjustments are made.
RECOMMENDED PROGRAM FUNDING LEVELS BEFORE ADJUSTMENTS:
DOE FY 1998 FY 1999 Senate House Conference Program Approp. Request bill bill Report (In millions) HEP $680.0 691.0 691.0 696.5 696.5 Nuclear 320.9 332.6 332.6 335.1 335.1 BES 668.2 836.1 836.1 779.1 809.1 Fusion 232.0 228.2 232.0 232.0 229.8 The Office of Science encompasses the above programs and others. The conference report specifies several “adjustments” to be made to programs within this office, as follows: “The conference agreement includes four funding adjustments. The $7,600,000 adjustment represents previously appropriated funds the Department has identified as surplus. The funds were provided as part of the closeout costs related to cancellation of the Superconducting Super Collider. The $13,500,000 adjustment represents an estimate of the policy-related work requested as part of the Climate Change Technology Initiative. This adjustment is to be made exclusively to the Basic Energy Sciences and Biological and Environmental Research programs. The conference agreement includes a $13,000,000 prior year balance adjustment as proposed by the Senate.... The conference agreement also includes a $5,700,000 general reduction. To the extent practicable, the conferees direct that general reductions are not applied to operation of user facilities. The conferees have not included the general reduction of $42,353,000 as proposed by the Senate.”
While DOE has available the prior year balances of $7.6 million from the SSC, it is not clear where it will find the other $13.0 million in prior year adjustments, or how it will apply the $5.7 million general reduction. The adjustments listed in the conference report total $39.8 million. The total budget for the Office of Science before adjustment is $2,722.7 million. After the adjustments are applied, it drops to $2,682.9 million, a reduction of 1.46 percent.
FYI #135 will contain selected quotes from the conference report on the following programs: High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Basic Energy Sciences, and Fusion Energy Sciences.
