AAS Public Policy Blog

The House, Senate, and White House came to an agreement on federal spending for FY 2011 two hours before a possible government shutdown on the night of 8 April 2011.  With negotiations completed, the House and Senate voted overnight to pass a stopgap measure to fund the government through Thursday, 14 April, preventing a break in the dissemination of federal funds.  Democrats and Republicans agreed to pass a continuing resolution (CR) with the negotiated spending cuts that will fund the government through 30 September 2011 and send it to the President by Thursday.

Although a government shutdown was averted there are still repercussions in federal support for the sciences and scientific research.

Overall, the CR totals $1.049 trillion in funding, which is a reduction of $78.5 billion from the FY2011 President’s budget request and $37.6 below FY2010 levels.  The cuts include $12 billion already cut in the previous three CR and $28 billion in new cuts.  These cuts affect the areas where the field of astronomy and astrophysics receives most of its federal support.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) will be funded at $6.9 billion. This is a decrease of $551 million from the FY2011 budget request and $53 million below FY2010 enacted levels.

NASA will be funded at $18.5 billion, a reduction of $515 million below the FY2011 budget request.  The level for NASA Science Mission Directorate shall be $4.9 billion, a decrease of $61 million from the FY2011 request and an increase of $447 million over the FY2010 enacted levels.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations issued a press release stating that the CR, “Preserves [a] NASA portfolio balanced among science, aeronautics, technology and human space flight investments, holding NASA’s feet to the fire to build the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle and the heavy lift Space Launch System.” [01]

The CR also has a statement prohibiting NASA and the Office of Science and Technology Policy to engage in activities with China.

SEC. 1340. (a) None of the funds made available by this division may be used for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or the Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement, or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company unless such activities are specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of enactment of this division.

(b) The limitation in subsection (a) shall also apply to any funds used to effectuate the hosting of official Chinese visitors at facilities belonging to or utilized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. [02]

This provision may be a congressional response to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden’s controversial trip to China.

An article in Nature at the time of the trip on October 13, 2010, quotes a 12 October letter to President Obama from Representative John Culberson (R-TX) states: “I do not believe it is appropriate for the Administrator to meet with any Chinese officials until Congress is fully briefed on the nature and scope of Mr. Bolden’s trip.” [03]

The Department of Energy Office of Science receives $4.9 billion, a reduction of $252 million below the FY2011 budget request and $35 million below FY2010 enacted levels.

More details will be posted on the AAS Public Policy Blog at blog.aas.org.

You can view the full text of the legislation at: http://rules.house.gov/Media/file/PDF1121/FloorText/FINAL2011xml.pdf

Both the House and Senate have released summaries of the legislation at: House http://appropriations.house.gov/files/41211SummaryFinalFY2011CR.pdf http://appropriations.house.gov/files/41211ProgramCutsListFinalFY2011CR.pdf

Senate http://appropriations.senate.gov/news.cfm

[01] http://appropriations.senate.gov/news.cfm?method=news.download&id=c3d65ae0-0208-4309-9f4b-cdc5f7aac364

[02] p. 216-217 of http://rules.house.gov/Media/file/PDF1121/FloorText/FINAL2011xml.pdf

[03] http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2010/10/nasaadministratorschina_visi.html

The President has released his Administration’s budget request for FY 2011. Science has fared well despite the spending freeze proposed by the President on all non-discretionary spending. This budget request asks for a 5.9% increase in non-defense R&D spending (an increase of $3.7B for a total of $66B). The country’s total R&D budget request for FY 2011 is $147.7B once the defense R&D funding is included. This is an increase of $343M or 0.2% over the enacted FY 2010 level. There is also significant investment in programs to foster the next generation of S&T workers, both at the NSF, DOE and the Department of Education.

The breakdown for the agencies relevant to the astronomy community is as follows:

NSF: The NSF request is for $7.4B, an increase of 8% over 2010 levels.  The Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate (MPS), which houses the Astronomical Sciences (AST) within NSF, receives a 4.3% increase and AST receives a 2.5% increase to $251.77M.

Of the facilities supported by MPS, the AST facilities have done very well getting a majority of the funding increases. The requests and the percent increase over FY2010 estimates are: ATST – $2M, ALMA – $23.5M (33.8%), Gemini – 1$19.58M (2.5%), IceCube – $2.5M (16.3%) and LIGO – $30.30 (6.3%).

The Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) program sees a 16.4% increase to $158.24M while the Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) sees a 6.5% increase to $209.16M. There is also an additional investment of $103M to realign and consolidate existing programs to broaden participation by under-represented groups in the S&T workforce.

NASA: The biggest change at NASA is of course a new vision for the manned space flight program. NASA’s total budget request is for $19B with $5B for the Science Mission Directorate. The biggest increase within SMD goes to Earth Science in line with the Administration’s focus on renewed investment in global climate change research.

Planetary Science sees a small increase, targeted to identify and catalog Near Earth Objects. Some really good news for planetary science is that the Plutonium-238 production restart is called out prominently. Members might recall that the Administration had requested $30M in funds in the last budget for the Pu-238 production restart required to power missions to explore other planets in the solar system. Congress had zeroed out the request citing inadequate detail. This request reopens the dialogue. Heliophysics sees a small increase as well of roughly $13M. Astrophysics funding declines over 2010 levels by 2.5% (~$27M). The good news for the astronomy community is that new money has been requested to fund the increased investment in earth science and space science was not cut to fund that increase.

DOE: The Office of Science at DOE receives a 4.4% ($217.7M) increase for a total of $5.1B. The High Energy Physics program, which supports astronomical programs such as Fermi, receives a 2.3% increase for a total of $829M. Fusion energy sciences are down 10.8% to $380M. Of some interest to our community might be that the U.S. ITER project sees a decrease of $55M compared to FY 2010 levels. This is a reflection of the pace of construction and W.F. Brinkman, the Office of Science Director, is quoted as saying that the DOE was not willing to provide money for ITER until it had solved some underlying problems and the funding reduction was intended to “send a message.”

The President’s budget request reflects the priorities of the Administration. It is very supportive of science, including curiosity-based science, but has focused its big investments in climate change research, renewable energy sources, and STEM education.  There is also a substantial investment in technology development at NASA. We must now engage Congress about the role astronomy plays in the national agenda and what our community can contribute to the nation. Everyone is awaiting the report from the Decadal Survey to set funding priorities for astrophysics. But we need to start talking to lawmakers now about the role of astronomy in the innovation agenda.

Useful links for further information:

NSF budget page: http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2011/index.jsp

NASA budget page: http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/index.html

DOE budget page: http://www.energy.gov/about/budget.htm

AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program page: http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/fy2011/

OMB: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Overview/