Status Report

AIP FYI 157: Congress Approves 5.0% Increase for NSF

By SpaceRef Editor
December 2, 2003
Filed under ,

Running out of both time and cooperation, House and Senate leaders
have combined the remaining FY 2004 unfinished appropriations bills
into a massive omnibus funding bill, H.R. 2673. The bill’s language
and accompanying report (H. Rept. 108-401) are complete. The House
is scheduled to pass the bill next week, while the Senate may not
take final action until January. Current levels of funding will
continue until the bill is signed by President Bush. One of the
seven bills rolled into the omnibus funding measure is the VA, HUD,
and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill.

Under this legislation, the National Science Foundation’s budget
will increase by 5.0%, or $267.9 million for FY 2004. The Bush
Administration requested an increase of 3.2%. The conferees noted
“very severe overall fiscal constraints” in their report language.
The new increase contrasts with the 10.4% increase approved in the
last budget cycle. The new budget for NSF is $5,577.9 million; the
authorized level is $6,390 million.

Excerpts below are taken from the final conference report. Note
that the FY 2004 amounts in the quoted selections must be reduced by
0.59% (“adjusted”) as required by a separate provision in the
report:

RESEARCH AND RELATED ACTIVITIES (Up an adjusted 4.8% over last
year):

The report states: “The conference agreement provides $4,276,600,000
for ongoing and new research priorities of the Foundation, an
increase of over $220,140,000 above the fiscal year 2003 level.
Within the very severe overall fiscal constraints imposed on the
conferees for fiscal year 2004, the managers have given their
highest priority to funding basic research within the research and
related activities account. This account supports
investigator-initiated grants within each of the core disciplines as
well as critical cross-cutting research which brings together
multiple disciplines. The conferees urge the Foundation in
allocating the scarce resources provided in this bill and in
preparing its fiscal 2005 budget request to be sensitive to
maintaining the proper balance between the goal of stimulating
interdisciplinary research and the need to maintain robust single
issue research in the core disciplines.

“The conferees direct NSF to include multi-year budget estimates and
future budget impacts for multi-disciplinary and mid-level
activities in the annual operating plan and in future budget
requests”.

“From Mathematical and Physical Sciences, $55,310,000 is for the
National Radio Astronomy Observatory program of which $9,400,000 is
provided for the Expanded Very Large Array; $10,300,000 is for the
Green Bank Observatory; and $4,600,000 is for studies and repair of
the Green Bank Observatory. The conferees recommend $6,000,000 for
continued advanced planning of the Rare Symmetry Violating Process
project.”

“The conferees direct NSF to provide details on the funding levels
for research and logistics within the U.S. Polar Research Programs
in the fiscal year 2004 operating plan.

“From the funds provided for Integrative Activities, $110,000,000 is
provided for Major Research Instrumentation. To the extent possible,
NSF should utilize funds in excess of the budget request to support
the merit-based instrumentation and infrastructure needs of
developing, HBCU [Historically Black Colleges and Universities], and
other minority-serving colleges and universities.

“The conference agreement includes $255,000,000 for nanotechnology
programs throughout the directorates, an increase of $34,000,000
over fiscal year 2003. [Using NSF figures, this is an adjusted 14.6%
increase.]

“The Conferees direct NSF to include the multi-year budget estimates
for all multi-disciplinary and mid-level activities in the annual
operating plan and in future budget requests.”

The omnibus bill provides the following adjusted increases within
the overall Research and Related Activities budget:

Mathematical and Physical Sciences: Up 5.0% or $52.5 million from
$1,041.0 million to $1,093.5 million.
Geosciences: Up 3.3% or $22.6 million from $692.2 million to $714.8
million.
Engineering: Up 3.2% or $17.2 million from $540.5 million to $557.7
million.

MAJOR RESEARCH EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES CONSTRUCTION (Up an adjusted
4.3%):

The bill provides the following adjusted increases within this
overall budget:

ALMA received $50.7 million; $50.8 million was requested.
Earthscope received $43.2 million; $45.0 million was requested.
IceCube Neutrino Observatory received $41.8 million; $60.0 million
was requested.

The report states: “The conferees have not provided funding for the
National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) without prejudice.
The conferees direct NSF to consider the recommendations in the
National Academy of Sciences report and continue to refine the NEON
plan from funds provided under research and related activities.

“The conferees have not provided funding for the Integrated Ocean
Drilling Program (IODP) and instead expect to see funding for this
project proposed in the fiscal year 2005 request as stated in the
fiscal year 2004 budget justification.

” The conferees reiterate language included in the Senate report
directing NSF to develop with the National Science Board funding
criteria for major projects; directing NSF to identify all
equipment, facility, and infrastructure-related costs over
$5,000,000 in the fiscal year 2005 budget request; and directing the
Deputy Director of Large Facility Projects to develop guidelines and
a cost tracking system to ensure cost oversight.”

EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES (Up an adjusted 4.0%)

“The conferees direct NSF to submit a report by May 1, 2004, on the
status of all the States participating in the Experimental Program
to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program, and to include
within this report the progress of each eligible state towards
graduation from the EPSCoR program.

“Within the level of funding for Elementary, Secondary and Informal
Education, $62,500,000 has been provided for the Informal Science
Education program.

“Of the amount appropriated for Undergraduate Education, $45,500,000
has been provided for the Advanced Technological Education program;
$25,000,000 is for the STEM Talent Expansion Program; and $8,000,000
is for the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program. No funds are provided
for the Workforce for the 21st Century program.

“The conferees have provided sufficient funding in fiscal year 2004
to reach a graduate stipend level of $30,000.

“Within the funding level for Human Resource Development,
$34,500,000 is provided for the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority
Participation program; $24,000,000 is provided for the Historically
Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduates (HBCU) Program;
$15,000,000 is provided for the Alliance for Graduate Education and
Professoriate; and $15,000,000 is provided for the Centers of
Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) program and
the HBCU Research University Science and Technology (THRUST)
initiative within CREST. While the conferees agree that eligibility
for THRUST should not exclude CREST recipients, NSF is directed to
first use fiscal year 2004 program funds to fully fund multi-year
awards to recipients of THRUST.”

The omnibus bill provides the following adjusted increases within
the overall Education and Human Resources budget:

Math and Science Partnerships: Up 9.9% or $12.5 million from $126.7
million to $139.2 million.

EPSCoR: Up 5.6% or $5.0 million from $89.4 million to $94.4 million.

Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education: Up 16.7% or $29.5
million from $176.3 million to $205.8 million.

Undergraduate Education: Up 1.5% or $2.4 million from $159.6 million
to $162.0 million.

Graduate Education: Up 11.4% or $16.0 million from $140.0 million to
$156.0 million.

Human Resources Development: Up 10.8% or $11.3 million from $104.5
million to $115.8 million.

Research, Evaluation and Communication: Down 1.4% or $0.95 million
from $66.8 million to $65.8 million.

Richard M. Jones

Media and Government Relations Division

The American Institute of Physics

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

(301) 209-3094

SpaceRef staff editor.