Congress Gets Down to Business on NSF, NASA, DOE Budgets

By the end of the week, the House Appropriations Committee should have completed one of the most difficult parts of the FY 1994 budget process. If all goes as planned, the chairmen of the House VA, HUD, Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee and the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee will know how much money they have to divide among programs under their jurisdictions. It is this money that eventually finds its way into NSF grants, NASA space science data analysis and DOE science programs, as well as the SSC and Space Station Freedom. For a number of reasons, the stakes are particularly high this year, and the outlook is clouded.

Imagine trying to fund next year’s spending programs with the same amount or less “real” money than is available for the current year, while finding room for a host of new investment initiatives, and you have an idea of what the 13 chairmen of the House Appropriations subcommittees have facing them in the next few weeks. Budget legislation passed in 1990 and a tough budget resolution passed in April have severly contrained the money available for 1994 spending. Behind a closed door in the Capitol, House Appropriations Chairman William Natcher (D-Kentucky), the subcommittee chairmen, and senior staff have been deciding how to divide up the money among the 13 subcommittees. By today or tomorrow the full committee may vote its approval of these numbers, the so-called 602(b) allocations, clearing the way for each subcommittee to start drafting, or marking-up, its bill.

Chairman Tom Bevill (D-Alabama) and his colleagues on the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee are usually the first to send their bill to the House floor. Yesterday, a subcommittee staffer said there was no firm schedule yet, although it would not be surprising if the subcommittee acted soon. Last year the subcommittee reported its bill out within days of its receiving the 602(b) allocation. Areas to watch include SSC funding (which could delay quick mark-up of the bill), and new construction money in the DOE science budget.

Chairman Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) will be drafting his first appropriations bill in the VA, HUD, Independent Agencies Subcommittee. The most controversial item in the subcommittee’s budget has not been assigned a figure yet: Space Station Freedom. NASA is working seven days a week on the redesign, amidst reports that the design teams are encountering real difficulty in reducing the station’s costs by one-half while preserving commitments with international partners. In addition, the subcommittee is grappling with how to accommodate President Clinton’s investment plan -- almost 30% of his $16.7 billion package.

National Science Foundation officials are watching the unfolding process knowing, in their words, “that the subcommittees will have to decide between NSF and other programs such as housing, environmental, veterans, and space activities.” Any hope that NSF might pick-up some additional money for the current budget year seems to be diminished, if not extinguished, with last night’s news that any economic stimulus package would be around the $900 million level. This latest version contains money only for summer jobs, wastewater treatment, and extra police.

Last year, NSF requested an 18 percent increase, and received a 6.3 percent increase. This year’s requested increase is 16 percent. At the March 26 hearing on the NSF budget, the subcommittee members gave no real indication of their sentiments on the FY 1994 request. Areas to watch in the subcommittee’s mark-up, which may start as early as next week, are the Research and Development budget, which has been frozen since 1992, funding for LIGO, and the Education and Human Resources budget.

NASA observers will be watching the space station, mission operations and data analysis, technology initiatives, and EOS budgets, although some of this is going to be decided upon later this summer because of the station redesign process. The Senate appropriations subcommittee will hold its NASA hearing on June 10, by which time some of the uncertainty in NASA’s budget request should be resolved.

The full House must complete its work on the Energy and Water Development and HUD, VA, Independent Agencies appropriations bills before the Senate can act. These next few weeks are crucial in laying the foundation for the funding legislation for NSF, NASA, and DOE which will be signed into law later this year.

For a summary of the recently expressed views and predictions of a key staffer of the Senate VA, HUD, IA subcommittee, see FYI #65.