AAS Public Policy Blog

AIP’s latest FYI covers the 2009 appropriations. Incidentally, it looks like they offer an RSS feed, but it only contains the most recent issue, not any back issues. Otherwise, I’d include the feed on the sidebar.

The compromise supplemental funding bill does indeed include money for science. Specifically:

• NASA - The amended bill includes $62,500,000 for Science, Aeronautics and Exploration.
• NSF - Research and Related Activities - The amended bill includes $22,500,000 for Research and Related Activities, of which $5,000,000 shall be available solely for activities authorized by section 7002(b)(2)(A)(iv) of Public Law 110-69. This is for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCOR.
• NSF Education And Human Resources - The amended bill includes $40,000,000 for Education and Related Activities of which $20,000,000 is for section 10 of the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n–1) and $20,000,000, is for activities authorized by section 10A of the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n–1a). This is the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program
• DOE - Science - The amended bill includes an additional $62,500,000 for Science. The Department of Energy is instructed to utilize this funding to eliminate all furloughs and reductions in force which are a direct result of budgetary constraints. Workforce reductions which are a result of completed work or realignment of mission should proceed as planned. This funding is intended to maintain technical expertise and capability at the Office of Science, and may be used for National Laboratory Research and Development including research related to new neutrino initiatives. Funding for research efforts shall not be allocated until the Office of Science has fully funded all personnel requirements.

The bill should be voted on in the House today or Friday, and then will be considered in the Senate.

Updated - You can see the text of the amendments yourself at the Government Printing Office (PDF) view of the Congressional Record.

Also, my favorite part of the Congressional record daily digest for June 20 is this:

Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008: The House agreed to the Senate amendments to the House amendments to the Senate amendment with an amendment, made in order by the rule and printed in H. Rept. 110-720…

That is a lot of amending.

The House Science Committee passed HR 6063, the NASA Reauthorization Act, unanimously today.

From the committee’s press release:

H.R. 6063, introduced by Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairman Mark Udall (D-CO), authorizes appropriations for NASA’s activities – science, aeronautics, exploration, education, space operations, inspector general, cross-agency support programs – for Fiscal Year 2009. FY 2009 funding for NASA is $20.21 billion. This bipartisan legislation was originally cosponsored by the Science and Technology Committee’s Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN), Ranking Member Ralph Hall (R-TX), and Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom Feeney (R-FL).

A NASA Reauthorization bill has yet to be introduced in the Senate.

Macroscopic issues dominated today’s votes on the War supplemental bill. Near as I can tell from looking over the bill text (there are 5 versions listed there, so it’s a bit confusing), there is no science money in the House version. The supplemental bypassed the appropriations committees. The major points concern funding new Veterans Benefits, unemployment benefits, and how to pay for them.

Science funding is clearly not on the radar for any of the major decision-makers in this complicated supplemental / war funding process. Amidst all this, the Bush administration has issued veto threats over additional domestic spending in the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said the the war supplemental funding bill will come up before the Senate next Wednesday. From the Politico:

“We know there is enough money to fund the troops for a considerable period after the Memorial Day recess,” Reid said. “We want to get [the bill] done. And we’ll do our best to get that done, but we’re not going to be pushed into doing something we don’t think is appropriate.”

Meanwhile, the White House has been threatening to veto bills that add additional domestic spending.

Meanwhile, White House budget director Jim Nussle weighed in Thursday with renewed veto threats against rival House and Senate Iraq funding bills, saying the add-ons for veterans and an extension of unemployment benefits were unacceptable. “To just pile them into the troop funding bill because the troop funding bill is necessary is a cynical process that the president has already been very clear about — the fact that he would veto,” Nussle told The Associated Press.

Additionally, certain “blue dog” Democrats are also opposing additional spending in the supplemental, if it’s not paid for with tax increases or other cuts.

In this environment, hoped-for science funding in the supplemental is not looking particularly likely. We’ll see what happens when the bills make it to the floor in the coming week.