Outlook Worsening for NSF, NASA, NIST

With only one week of short term funding left for NSF, NASA, and NIST, face-to-face budget talks between the Administration and Congress have been called off. It is very unclear if a legislative mechanism can be found to avoid another destructive government shutdown on January 27 when this money runs out.

National Science Foundation and NASA funding is entangled in budgetary and philosophical battles over the veterans, HUD, EPA, and national service budgets. Resolution of these issues is nowhere in sight. If there is an eventual agreement between Congress and the White House over big ticket items like Medicare, it will have little or no effect on getting an appropriations bill signed for these agencies. NIST funding is in even worse shape, since now there is some speculation by the House Republican leadership about not even funding the Department of Commerce.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) is pessimistic about resolving the impasse over a seven year balanced budget plan, saying that the solution may require November’s general election -- 293 days from now. There is now talk that Republicans may send the President targeted appropriations bills for programs they favor, using what House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston (R-LA) calls a process of “significant selectivity.” He adds, “You don’t necessarily have to pass a bill for programs that we don’t want funded.” House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX) identified the Commerce and Education Departments as possible candidates for defunding. Speculation is that the Senate would balk at this approach, preferring to move legislation providing funding for the rest of the fiscal year at lower levels. No one knows what will happen.

Indicative of the mood on Capitol Hill is the large number of Members who have announced their retirement. Rep. John T. Myers (R-IN), who has served in the House for fifteen terms, is retiring at the end of the year. Myers plays an important role in determining federal funding for physics research, since he is Chairman of the House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee. This subcommittee has jurisdiction over the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Research. Myers has served on this subcommittee for over 20 years, and worked closely with then-subcommittee chairman Tom Bevill (D-AL), who is also retiring.

In making his announcement, Myers stated, “There used to be a civility. Today they would almost rather destroy another member than compromise. The camaraderie is destroyed.”