AIP FYI #127: Senate Bill Would Increase FY 2005 NSF Funding by 3.0%

On Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an FY 2005
VA, HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill that would
increase the budget for the National Science Foundation by 3.0% next
year. Under this bill, S. 2825, the foundation’s budget would
increase from $5,577.9 million to $5,744.7 million, which was what
the Bush Administration requested. The House version of this bill
recommended a cut of 2.0% in NSF’s budget to $5,467.0 million (see
http://www.aip.org/fyi/2004/099.html ).

Senate Report 108-353 accompanies this bill and provides the
recommendations of the Senate appropriators. Selections from this
report, as well as the funding levels, follow:

GENERAL DESCRIPTION, COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION:

“The Committee continues to be supportive of the efforts achieved in
the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (Public
Law 107-368) and the pursuit of a doubling path for NSF funding.
However, due to funding constraints, the Committee is not able to
provide such funding at this time, but will continue to pursue these
efforts in the future.

“The Committee notes that productivity growth, powered by new
knowledge and technological innovation, makes the economic benefits
of a comprehensive, fundamental research and education enterprise
abundantly clear. New products, processes, entire new industries,
and the employment opportunities that result, depend upon rapid
advances in research and their equally rapid movement into the
marketplace. In today’s global economy, continued progress in
science and engineering and the transfer of the knowledge developed
is vital if the United States is to maintain its competitiveness.
NSF is at the leading edge of the research and discoveries that will
create the jobs and technologies of the future.”

RESEARCH AND RELATED ACTIVITIES:

The current budget is $4,251.4 million. The Administration
requested $4,452.0 million. The Senate bill provides an increase of
3.6%, or $150.9 million, to $4,402.3 million over this year. The
House bill would cut the current budget by 2.3% or $99.6 million to
$4,151.8 million.

Senate appropriators provided the Administration’s requested
increases in Engineering: +1.9%; Geosciences: +2.2%; and Polar
Research Programs: +2.8%. The Senate bill would increase
Mathematical and Physical Sciences funding by 2.8%, or $31.6
million; the Administration requested a 2.2% increase.

The committee’s report contains guidance on programs “to assist
minorities, and women and schools that have not received significant
Federal support,” plant genome research, Information Technology
Research, infrastructure needs at smaller institutions, NSF’s role
in international science leadership, arctic research, human and
social dynamics, and new S&T centers; see
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app05.html . Regarding the
nanotechnology research program and radio astronomy, the report
recommended the following:

“NSF has been the lead agency for the National Nanotechnology
Initiative, and will continue to provide critical and fundamental
understanding to this emerging technology. The Committee fully
supports the funding level requested for nanotechnology within the
fiscal year 2005 budget request. The Committee believes that the
recommended level of funding will allow the Foundation to continue
to be the leader for this initiative in a field that is still in its
beginning stages. In the past, novel technologies have suffered
because of misconceptions of the public. This has led to mistrust
and confusion over the benefits that such research can provide. NSF
is encouraged to make sure such difficulties are minimized so that
this technology can continue to provide the potential breakthroughs
needed by materials research and health researchers.”

“The Committee is concerned that NSF continues to underfund the
operations for radio astronomy. The operations, maintenance, and
development of new instrumentation at the Very Large Array, the Very
Long Baseline Array, and the Green Bank Telescope, allows these
world-class facilities to provide valuable research into the origins
of the universe. The Committee provides the National Radio Astronomy
Observatories $55,000,000 for annual operations.”

MAJOR RESEARCH EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES CONSTRUCTION:

The current budget is $155.0 million. The Administration requested
$213.3 million. The Senate bill would cut the current budget by
15.9%, or $24.6 million, to $130.4 million. The House bill would
increase this budget to $208.2 million, an increase of 34.3%.
Selections from the report follow:

“The Committee has provided $49,670,000 for the Atacama Large
Millimeter Array [ALMA] [the same as the House], $47,350,000 for
EarthScope [the same as the House], and $33,400,000 [the House
provided $30.0 million] for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Due to
budgetary constraints, no funding is provided for new starts within
this account for fiscal year 2005.

“The Committee has received the results of the National Academy of
Sciences work on developing a set of criteria that can be used to
rank and prioritize the Foundation’s large research facilities. The
Committee commends the Academy for its work and expects this report
will lead to a priority-setting process that is transparent, fair,
and rational. The Committee expects NSF, the National Science Board
and the Academy to work together to ensure that the recommendations
of the Academy are fully implemented for the fiscal year 2006 budget
submission.

“Consistent with the implementation of the recommendations from the
National Research Council’s January 14, 2004 report on Setting
Priorities for Large Research Facility Projects Supported by the
National Science Foundation, the Committee urges NSF to consider the
inclusion of funding in its fiscal year 2006 budget request to begin
construction of a new research vessel to replace the R/V Alpha
Helix.”

EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES:

The current budget is $939.0 million. The Administration requested
$771.4 million. The Senate bill would reduce the budget by 1.0%, or
$9.8 million, to $929.2 million. The House bill would cut the
current budget by 10.2% or $96.0 million to $843.0 million.

The committee’s report discusses EPSCoR (stating that it is “deeply
disappointed by the administration’s lack of support” for the
program), the tech talent program, Advanced Technology Education
program, support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities,
tribal colleges program, and informal science education program.
The complete language may be viewed at
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app05.html . See
http://www.aip.org/fyi/2004/126.html for the language rejecting the
Administration’s request to transfer NSF’s Math and Science
Partnership program. In addition, the report states:

“The Committee recognizes and is supportive of the request by the
administration for an additional 500 fellowships within the
Foundation’s graduate research education programs. The request will
allow for 5,550 fellowships to be funded at $30,000 per award. The
Committee believes that this funding will allow NSF to attract more
of the best and brightest students into the science, mathematics,
engineering, and technology fields. The Committee also urges NSF to
work towards increasing the number of women, minorities, and other
underrepresented groups within these programs to the greatest extent
possible.

“Without prejudice, and reflecting the difficult funding constraints
within which the Committee has been given to operate, the Committee
has chosen to provide no funding for the new Workforce for the 21st
Century program at NSF.”

Richard M. Jones

Media and Government Relations Division

The American Institute of Physics

fyi@aip.org
http://www.aip.org/gov

(301) 209-3094