Status Report

House Rpt.108-498 – FY 2005 Budget Resolution – Function 250: General Science, Space, and Technology

By SpaceRef Editor
May 24, 2004
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House Rpt.108-498 – CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005

FUNCTION 250: GENERAL SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY

Function Summary

Function 250 consists of General Science, Space and Technology programs. The largest component of this function–about two-thirds of total spending–is for the space flight, research, and supporting activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA]. The function also contains general science funding, including the budgets for the National Science Foundation [NSF], and the fundamental science programs of the Department of Energy [DOE].

Function 250 budget authority rose from $18.9 billion in fiscal year 1999 to $23.4 billion in fiscal year 2004, a 4.4 percent average annual growth rate. During the same period, outlays rose from $18.1 billion to $22.3 billion, a 4.2 percent average annual growth rate.

Senate Resolution

Discretionary

The Senate resolution assumes discretionary spending in this function of $24.2 billion in budget authority and $23.6 billion in outlays for 2005. This represents an increase of $0.9 billion in budget authority and $1.4 billion in outlays from the 2004 level. The resolution includes the following specific assumptions:

For NASA (including function 250 and 400 accounts), $16.2 billion is assumed, a 5.6 percent increase over 2004. The Senate resolution assumes fully funding the President’s request for NASA in 2005 and the outyears. The Committee-reported resolution did not assume fully funding the President’s request in 2005, but an amendment (SA 2733) offered by Senator Sessions and adopted by the Senate increased NASA by $600 million in 2005 and reduced function 800 by a like amount, resulting in no net effect on the overall budget.

For the Department of Energy Office of Science, the resolution rejects the President’s requested cut, and instead assumes an additional $38 million (1.1 percent) above the 2004 level.

Mandatory

The Senate resolution assumes no mandatory increases or decreases for this function.

House Amendment

The amendment calls for $22.8 billion in budget authority and $22.5 billion in outlays in fiscal year 2005. The function totals are $115.2 billion in budget authority and $113.5 billion in outlays over five years. Mandatory spending is $30 million in budget authority and $111 million in outlays in fiscal year 2005, and totals $154 million in budget authority and $321 million in outlays over five years. Discretionary spending is $22.8 billion in budget authority and $22.3 billion in outlays in fiscal year 2005; and over five years, it is $115.1 billion in budget authority and $113.2 billion in outlays.

Mandatory

There are no specific mandatory assumptions in this function.

Discretionary

Specific programs will be increased or decreased when the Appropriations subcommittees write their respective bills. Outyear levels result from applying a simple computation of modest growth, consistent with the President’s budget. Outyear levels are not binding and will be revisited in subsequent years.

Conference Agreement

The conference agreement for this function reflects total spending of $23.9 billion in budget authority and $23.3 billion in outlays for fiscal year 2005. Mandatory spending for this function is $30 million in budget authority and $111 million in outlays in fiscal year 2005. Discretionary spending for this function is $23.9 billion in budget authority and $23.2 billion in outlays in fiscal year 2005.

The conferees support the President’s Vision for Exploration and believe the fiscal year 2005 funding for Function 250 should provide sufficient funding to initiate the process. Additionally, the bulk of the requested increase for fiscal year 2005 is for return to flight of the Space Shuttle and continued assembly and operations for the International Space Station. The Conferees hope that these two must-fund requirements will be taken into account during their consideration of the NASA appropriation. The conferees also recognize the importance of the research and education initiatives of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and the National Science Foundation.

SpaceRef staff editor.