Ready or Not -- Here They Come

With the failure of Congress to complete work on a final budget resolution, the Senate is going ahead with the all-important work of writing appropriations bills. For anyone interested in urging their senators and representatives to represent them on science and technology spending for next year, the time to act is this week.

By this time, Congress should have adopted a broad spending plan that helps to shape the coming year’s appropriations bills. The Senate adopted a budget resolution seven weeks ago that was not especially generous to science (see FYI #55 .) The House Budget Committee has not even completed its resolution yet. One draft floated last week by Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich (R-Ohio) would have eliminated the Department of Energy and the Department of Commerce. It would have corporatized the national energy laboratories, and consolidated many federal elementary and secondary education programs into a block grant. This latest version went nowhere, as Kasich now says he will only have “numbers” in his resolution that is going to the Budget committee this Wednesday. “Numbers” are the name of the game when it comes to budgets, and Kasich’s thinking is to cut total federal spending by $100 billion over five years.

The importance of a final budget resolution is greatly diminished since the Senate Appropriations Committee has decided to go ahead and divide the discretionary half-trillion dollar “pie” for next year. The news is mixed. The Senate appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Department of Commerce is getting some additional money above the current year; as is the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Department of Energy. The Department of Defense’s subcommittee did considerably better. The subcommittee with jurisdiction over NSF and NASA received essentially flat funding.

Now that the Senate appropriations subcommittees know how much they have to spend, they are going to get their bills out. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) plans to get eight of the thirteen appropriations bills out onto the Senate floor over two weeks, starting the week of June 1.

If you were thinking about telling your representative and your two senators your views on R&D funding, do not wait. The time to write, or to visit your Members, is right now. If you need budget information, an update on the latest committee action, names and addresses, or guidance on communicating with Congress, you can find it all at http://www.aip.org/gov As tools to help get your message across, you will also find web versions of our Physics Success Stories providing examples of billion dollar industries that are the result of federal research funding. Send an e-mail message to us at fyi@aip.org if you would like hard copies.

Millions of citizens are being alerted around the country to this latest development in the Senate. All are being asked to let their Members of Congress know their thinking about a wide range of federal programs. Now is the time to add your voice.