DOE, NIST Funding Bills Passed by House
Congress has now left for its August recess. It is scheduled to return on September 8, with less than one month to go before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1. In a rush of activity before leaving town, the House passed several FY 2000 appropriations bills, including those that fund NIST and the Department of Energy’s civilian R&D programs. Both bills contain actions that drastically affect science and technology programs: the DOE bill would restrict construction funding for the Spallation Neutron Source, while the NIST bill would terminate the Advanced Technology Program.
DOE APPROPRIATIONS: The Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill (H.R. 2605) was approved by a bipartisan 420- 8 vote on July 27. The House followed the recommendations of the Appropriations Committee with respect to physics-related research programs (see FYI #113 for the committee’s actions), including reducing construction funding for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) by $146.1 million, to $50.0 million. Another $17.9 million would go toward design R&D. The appropriators would require DOE to meet a series of management criteria before the SNS funds would be made available. During floor debate on the Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill, House Science Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) applauded the appropriators for generally following his authorization bill’s (H.R. 1655) guidance regarding criteria for SNS funding. “While H.R. 2605 does not fully fund some science and energy R&D accounts to their authorized levels,” Sensenbrenner said, “it is a good attempt to follow the authorization bill’s directions on R&D funding within a tight fiscal framework.... I believe that the language on Spallation Neutron Source, when coupled with rigorous oversight, will provide [DOE] with the facility they need at a cost that does not cause heartburn for the American taxpayer.”
The same day as House passage of H.R. 2605, the Administration released a statement criticizing portions of the bill, including the reduction to SNS funding: “the Administration strongly opposes the $146 million reduction in construction funding for the SNS. When completed, the SNS will provide a revolutionary tool for use in the materials and medical sciences. The Department has recently installed a strong management team that has produced a solid cost and schedule baseline for the project. However, the Committee funding level would require significant restructuring of the baseline, contribute to lengthy delays in construction, and ultimately increase the total project cost.”
The House recommended more for High Energy and Nuclear Physics, and Fusion Energy Sciences, than did the Senate (see FYI #96 ). The House’s funding levels for these programs are also higher than the Administration requested.
NIST APPROPRIATIONS: On August 5, the House voted 217-210 to pass the Commerce-State-Justice Appropriations bill. The bill (H.R. 2670) would fund NIST at $436.7 million, following the recommendation of the Appropriations Committee. This is a decrease of $300.3 million below the request of $735.0 million, and $210.5 million below FY 1999 funding of $647.2 million.
The Scientific and Technical Research and Services account, which comprises NIST’s intramural laboratories and the Malcolm Baldrige Award, would receive $280.1 million, equal to FY 1999 funding and $9.5 million below the request. The committee report (H. Rpt. 106-283) states, “the Committee notes that, in an era of declining budgets, the core programs of NIST have enjoyed significant support, receiving continued program increases. Overall funding for these programs has grown from $240 million in fiscal year 1995 to $280 million in fiscal year 1999. The Committee understands the importance of the research done by this agency, and is recommending the same level of funding in fiscal year 2000 as in fiscal year 1999 because of the overall funding constraints with which it is faced.”
Construction of Research Facilities would receive $56.7 million, equal to FY 1999 funding and $50.1 million less than requested. While the FY 2000 request would enable construction of the Advanced Measurement Laboratory to begin in fiscal 2000, “the Committee recommendation assumes that construction will start in fiscal year 2001, and provides [$44.9 million] toward the construction of the AML.” The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) would receive the full request of $99.8 million.
Funding for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) would be zeroed out. The report contains the following explanation (# designates paragraph breaks): “The advocates for the ATP program have always had to answer a number of fundamental questions, such as whether the program achieved results that could not be achieved through the private marketplace; whether it funded technology development and commercialization that would not be undertaken but for the existence of the program; and whether the federal government should play a role in picking technologies to be developed and then funding that development at substantial government expense, for example. #After many years in existence, the program has not produced a body of evidence to overcome those fundamental questions about whether the program should exist in the first place. Given the tremendous financial constraints under which the Committee is operating, the question becomes whether it is worthwhile to continue to fund a program of questionable value, particularly one that costs over $200,000,000 a year. #With many other priorities facing the Committee, and funding extremely limited, the Committee concludes that funding would be better spent on other higher priority programs and recommends that the ATP program be terminated.”
The Senate bill (see FYI #104 ) would provide a total of $742.0 million for NIST. MEP and construction would receive more than requested, STRS would get roughly the requested amount, and ATP would be funded at slightly less than the request.
Both the DOE and NIST funding bills await House-Senate conference when Congress returns in September. The House has two remaining appropriations bills to pass the VA/HUD bill, which funds NSF and NASA, and the Labor-HHS bill, which includes the Department of Education. The Senate has passed nine of 13 appropriations bills.
