Good Outcome on National Science Foundation Appropriations Bill

Congress has sent President Clinton the appropriations bill funding the National Science Foundation for Fiscal Year 1999, which began on October 1. There is good news in the budget numbers and the report language (105-769) accompanying the legislation. First, the numbers:

1999 BUDGET:

While Congress appropriated less than President Clinton requested, the numbers are good, considering that the tobacco settlement which was to fund the administration request was killed in the Senate.

National Science Foundation: Increases by 7.1% or $243 million to $3.67 billion. The administration wanted a 10.0% increase.

Research and Related Activities: Increases 8.8% or $224 million to $2.77 billion. The administration requested an 11.8% increase.

Education and Human Resources: Increases 4.7% or $29 million to $662.00 million. The administration wanted a 7.9% increase.

Major Research Equipment: The bill provides $90.00 million; the administration requested $94 million.

THE FINE PRINT:

Conferees rejected much of the language that Senate appropriators inserted in their bill that was cause for concern (see FYI #95 .) Dropped from the legislation was Senate language earmarking $6 million for the establishment of three university-based centers to study information technology needs. Also dropped was similar language directing $12 million for three new multi-investigator applied molecular biology centers. NSF had been instructed to award all of this money to schools that were not “within the top 100 of NSF’s survey of universities and colleges receiving Federal research support to overcome bias toward more established institutions.” Instead of this language, the conferees expect NSF to take steps to “enhance the resources available” to a broader range of institutions, and “to review the need for the establishment of new centers to meet the purposes as proposed by the Senate, and review the desirability and feasibility of establishing a new and separate pool of resources to benefit doctoral I and II institutions” as defined by the Carnegie Foundation. These reviews are to be submitted by April 1, 1999.

Conferees also removed specific bill language “for a comprehensive research initiative on plant genomes for economically significant crops,” instead increasing NSF’s budget for this kind of research by $10 million over the request.

Earth and ocean sciences research received notice by the conferees as they described how the Research and Related Activities budget should be spent. They stated, “The Foundation is expected to spread this increase [in the over-all R&RA budget] across all research directorates in a proportional manner consistent with the budget proposal. Within this framework, the Foundation is expected to make every effort to maximize resources for the Ocean, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences programs. The conferees also note that the GLOBE program has been provided up to $2,000,000.” The conferees later cite a National Research Council report entitled, “Opportunities in Ocean Science,” and instruct NSF to “counsel with the National Ocean Leadership Council and the Office of Management and Budget, to define ocean science initiatives that will help realize the economic and environmental benefits described in the report.”

Elsewhere, the conferees provided $22 million, an amount that is $12.5 million over the request,for the U.S. Arctic Program “to support ongoing and planned high priority research in the Arctic region, including appropriate logistic needs.”

Senate report language on high-speed networking in some states such as Hawaii and Alaska, and a Long Term Ecological Research Center in a mountain wilderness area, was not removed by the conferees. Also left standing was a Senate statement expressing the need for “quantifiable goals and milestones, and absent compliance, the Committee may have to consider appropriating program specific funding” (see FYI #95 .) In a concluding section of the report entitled “General Provisions,” the conferees state that the Office of Science and Technology Policy should “contract with the National Academy of Sciences for a study to develop methods for evaluating federally funded research and development programs.”

The final bill contains the requested amounts for the Millimeter Array ($9 million), Large Hadron Collider ($22 million), polar support aircraft upgrades ($20 million), and $39 million (instead of the requested $22 million) “for continued maintenance and construction of new facilities in Antarctica.” No money is provided for the Polar Cap Observatory.

Under Education and Human Resources, $13.5 million is provided for “education reform initiatives targeted to underrepresented populations served through the nation’s historically black colleges and universities.” Informal science education received an additional $10 million above the request, as did EPSCoR.