FY 2007 Appropriations Cycle Completed

The much-anticipated and much-delayed conclusion of the FY 2007 appropriations cycle came last week when President Bush signed a $463.5 billion funding bill. On a vote of 81 to 15, the Senate approved the House-passed funding resolution, completing congressional consideration of nine appropriations bills that had not been passed last fall.

Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-NV) brought the bill to the floor in a manner that precluded amendments to the legislation that had already been passed by the House (see http://www.aip.org/fyi/2007/014.html .) Despite complaints from Republican senators about the floor procedure, 33 Republicans voted for the funding resolution.

Under the provisions of H.J.Res. 20, funding for almost all departments and programs will continue at FY 2006 levels. Some exceptions were made, with funding being increased or decreased.

Within the next few weeks, details will be released by departments and agencies on how they will allocate their FY 2007 appropriations among various programs. The most comprehensive information on funding amounts was written by the Senate Republican Policy Committee and the Democratic Policy Committee in documents that were provided to senators before the final vote. These documents and bill language state:

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: An increase of $335 million to $5,916.2 million. This is an increase of 6.0 percent over last year’s funding of $5,581.2 million. The entire increase was allocated to the Research and Related Activities budget.

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OFFICE OF SCIENCE: An increase of $200 million to $3,796.4 million. This is an increase of 5.6 percent over last year’s funding of $3,596.4 million.

NASA: The Republican document states that the bill provides level funding of $16.25 billion for NASA. The Science budget would remain approximately level.

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: The Republican document states that the bill provides an increase of $16 million to approximately $978 million. This is an increase of 1.7 percent over last year’s funding of $971 million.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY: Figures relating to NIST’s budget vary. The Republican document states that total NIST funding is $669 million, a figure somewhat lower than other sources. As noted in FYI #14 (see link above), the funding resolution states that NIST’s Scientific and Technical Research and Services program would receive $432.8 million; last year’s budget was $375.6 million.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BIOMEDICAL IMAGING AND BIOENGINEERING: No specific amount was included in the funding resolution for this Institute.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS: This appropriations bill was passed last fall. See http://www.aip.org/fyi/2006/117.html