AAS Public Policy Blog

Updated Twice Below with Links to Full Bill Text and Committee Report

A new Senate Press Release (PDF file) has more details on the Senate stimulus money that relates to science:

–

• National Science Foundation (NSF) Research: $1.4 billion total for NSF including: $1 billion to help America compete globally; $350 million for scientific infrastructure; and $50 million for competitive grants to improve the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): $1.5 billion total for NASA including: $500 million for Earth science missions to provide critical data about the Earth’s resources and climate; $250 million to enable research and testing of environmentally responsible aircraft and for verification and validation methods for complex aerospace systems and software; $500 million to reduce the gap in time that the U.S. does not have a vehicle to access the International Space Station; and $250 million for repair, upgrade and construction at NASA facilities.

• The Department of Energy’s Science program sees $430 million for laboratory infrastructure, for construction, and for advanced computing development.

Update The full bill text is available

Interestingly, the bill text does not specify that the NASA science money goes to earth science. It simply says:

For an additional amount for ‘‘Science’’, $500,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2010.

Unlike the House bill which says:

For an additional amount for ‘‘Science’’, $400,000,000, of which not less than $250,000,000 shall be solely for accelerating the development of the tier 1 set of Earth science climate research missions recommended by the National Academies Decadal Survey.

Still, I say it’s near certain that when these two bills are reconciled, the money will be flagged for earth science that was mentioned in the Senate press release.

Update II

The committee report is out which both summarizes the spending and gives justification. The AIP’s latest FYI gives a nice summary of the science money therein.

A couple of interesting snippets:

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

The Committee recommends a total of $1,502,000,000 for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA]. NASA is one of the Nation’s premier innovation agencies. Funding recommended for NASA is estimated to create over 10,000 jobs, including 8,000 high-tech jobs.

NASA is directed to report to the Committees on Appropriations with the intended allocation of these funds no later than 60 days after enactment of this act.

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

The Committee recommends a total of $1,402,000,000 for the National Science Foundation [NSF]. This funding is critical to support valuable investments for America’s competitiveness in research and technology, and is expected to create an estimated 25,000 jobs. NSF is directed to provide a spend plan no later than 60 days after enactment of this act detailing the proposed use of these funds.

Tags: congress, DOE, NASA, NSF, Senate, stimulus