What’s Ahead

(Image credit – Architect of the Capitol)

Congress Making Timely Progress on FY19 Appropriations

Both chambers of Congress are on recess this week. When they return next week, Republican congressional leaders plan to focus on completing fiscal year 2019 appropriations before the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1. Although it has been two decades since Congress last accomplished this feat, both chambers have advanced spending legislation at an unusually rapid pace this year. Federal discretionary spending levels for the fiscal year — usually a major point of contention — were essentially set by bipartisan budget legislation enacted in March. House appropriators have since approved 10 of their 12 spending bills, while Senate appropriators have signed off on all 12 of theirs with bipartisan support.

Both chambers have also begun debating and passing appropriations legislation, starting with a package of three appropriations bills that includes the Energy-Water bill funding the Department of Energy. The House has also just passed legislation for the Department of Defense, while key Senate appropriators are discussing trying to pass a package that would include funding for both DOD and the National Institutes of Health.

The three-bill appropriations package including DOE funding is now in conference committee, and Republican leaders hope to send it to the president before the end of the fiscal year. In a statement, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Richard Shelby (R-AL) remarked, “Having passed three of our funding bills in the Senate this week, it appears the machinery of regular order is beginning to turn. However, we would be wise to remain mindful that our work is not complete until all of the bills are signed into law.” The path to completing appropriations may not be a straight one. In particular, President Trump has threatened to precipitate a government shutdown at the end of the fiscal year if Congress does not meet certain demands, including providing a large downpayment on the construction of a new border wall on the U.S. southern border.

Below are the bulletins FYI has published to date that compare the fiscal year 2019 appropriations proposals for federal science agencies:

In Case You Missed It

In April, Northrop Grumman conducted acoustic testing on the spacecraft element of the James Webb Space Telescope. According to an independent review board report released last week, the testing caused damage to the spacecraft that was linked to a decision made during its assembly. The report states the mistake, and the failure to detect it earlier, added months to the mission’s launch delay. (Image credit – NASA / Chris Gunn)

Webb Space Telescope to Breach Cost Cap by $800 Million

NASA announced on June 27 that it has pushed back the expected launch date of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) from May 2020 to March 30, 2021, and that the mission’s estimated lifecycle cost has risen from $8.8 billion to $9.66 billion. The revisions reflect the findings of an independent review that NASA commissioned following setbacks during integration and testing of the JWST spacecraft at Northrop Grumman. NASA also anticipates the mission will breach the $8 billion cap that Congress set on its development cost by about $800 million. NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk said the agency will seek the congressional reauthorization JWST now requires via the fiscal year 2019 appropriations process, which is already well underway. Later in the day, NASA Astrophysics Division Director Paul Hertz detailed for the interagency Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee that the mission will need an infusion of $490 million across fiscal years 2020 and 2021, likely entailing diversions from other science missions. Hertz had earlier anticipated that much of the cost of the launch delay could be covered using funding that NASA had allotted for JWST’s post-launch operations.

Supreme Court Upholds Trump Travel Ban

On June 26, the Supreme Court upheld President Trump’s policy to restrict nationals from several countries from traveling to the U.S. The latest travel ban affects travelers from five Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia — and from Venezuela and North Korea. The 5-4 decision follows actions from several lower courts to limit or suspend implementation of current and previous versions of the ban. Leaders from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association of American Universities have released statements expressing disappointment in the court’s ruling and warning that tightened visa policies threaten the U.S.’ global scientific and economic competitiveness. While the travel restrictions vary by country and include some exemptions for students, Inside Higher Education reported that the number of visas granted for students from affected countries has dropped significantly over the past year.

National Quantum Initiative Bill Clears Science Committee

On June 27, the House Science Committee approved the bipartisan “National Quantum Initiative Act,” which would establish an interagency coordination infrastructure for quantum R&D and authorize a total of $255 million annually for the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and National Institutes of Standards and Technology to implement the first five years of a 10-year initiative. Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX) indicated he is optimistic the bill could become law this year, pointing out that leaders of the counterpart committee in the Senate have introduced companion legislation. At the same meeting, the committee also approved a bipartisan bill that would provide policy direction and authorize fiscal year 2019 spending levels for NIST.

Defense Science Board to Evaluate Prospects of Quantum Technology

On June 18, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin charged the Defense Science Board to assemble a report on prospective applications of quantum information science in areas such as computing, communications, sensing, and metrology. The study is to consider such issues as the current readiness level of different quantum technologies, the relations between their commercial and defense applications, and future requirements for ancillary technologies such as specialized materials and refrigeration systems. It will build on a previous study that the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board completed in 2015.

DOE R&D Nominees Face Senate Committee

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on June 26 to review four of President Trump’s nominees for leadership positions in the Department of Energy. Chris Fall received bipartisan praise as the nominee to lead the DOE’s Office of Science, while some Democrats expressed concern about the nominee to lead the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Daniel Simmons. They pressed Simmons to reconcile his desire to lead EERE with his past criticisms of renewable energy.

Defense Appropriators Split on Basic Research Spending

The fiscal year 2019 Defense appropriations bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 28 includes a nearly 20 percent increase for basic research. The committee report accompanying the bill justifies the increase by pointing to recent testimony by Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin on the importance of basic research to developing future transformational technologies. Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL) observed that the broader $95 billion Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) budget provided by the bill would be the largest in the Department of Defense’s history, even after adjusting for inflation.

Meanwhile, the House passed its fiscal year 2019 spending bill for DOD on June 28 on a vote of 359 to 49. While the bill includes a 3 percent increase for RDT&E, it would cut back funding for the early-stage Science and Technology accounts by 8 percent. Within that, basic research would be cut by 3 percent. Details on the breakout of basic and applied research funding across the military service branches are available in FYI’s Federal Science Budget Tracker.

Missile Defense Debated on House Floor

Prior to final passage of the Defense spending bill, Reps. Bill Foster (D-IL) and Doug Lamborn (R-CO) debated a proposed amendment by Foster to prohibit the use of funds for researching or developing space-based anti-ballistic missile systems. The Senate-passed version of the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019" directs the Missile Defense Agency to begin developing such a system. Foster argued that such systems are known to be “unworkable, impossibly expensive, and vulnerable to simple countermeasures,” pointing to studies from the American Physical Society, an AIP Member Society, and the National Academies as well as comments made by former MDA Director James Syring. Lamborn countered that in view of U.S. adversaries’ technological advances, it is “dangerous” to leave missile defense options off the table, and said that just because something “hasn’t been developed yet, you don’t know that it doesn’t work.” The amendment failed 160 to 251, with every Republican and 24 Democrats voting against.

Senate Advances Bill with $2 Billion Bump for NIH

The National Institutes of Health would receive a $2 billion, 5.4 percent increase under the fiscal year 2019 Labor-Health and Human Services-Education spending bill advanced by the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 28. If enacted, the increase would represent the fourth consecutive year in which Congress has raised the biomedical research agency’s budget by over a billion dollars. The report accompanying the bill explains that the committee “continues to prioritize funding for medical research because it has provided millions of Americans and their families with hope” and says that NIH’s overall budget has increased by 30 percent over the past four years. The House Appropriations Committee had also scheduled a meeting last week to consider its version of the bill, which would provide a $1.25 billion increase for NIH, but it was postponed.

House Passes Three DOE Research Bills

On June 26, the House passed the “Department of Energy Science and Innovation Act,” the “Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy Act,” and the “National Innovation Modernization by Laboratory Empowerment (NIMBLE) Act” on voice votes. The House Science Committee introduced and approved these bills in May, building on legislation that had already been introduced. The first would enshrine in law the missions of the DOE Office of Science’s six main program areas and set authorized funding levels for a set of research facility construction projects. The second revises the mission of ARPA–E to extend beyond energy technology to encompass “transformative science and technology solutions to address energy, environmental, economic, and national security challenges,” such as nuclear waste cleanup. The third authorizes DOE national laboratory directors to approve public–private partnership agreements entailing financial obligations of less than $1 million.

Committee Chairs Probing Interior Department on Scientific Integrity Concerns

A June 22 Los Angeles Times report that the Interior Department is now requiring its scientists to obtain approval before speaking with media in certain situations has generated bipartisan concerns in Congress. In a June 25 letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) cited the story in raising a host of concerns about recent departmental actions that he argues violate the letter or spirit of the agency’s scientific integrity policy and federal law. Nelson is the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), who chairs the House appropriations subcommittee for the Interior Department, also expressed concern about the apparent procedure change and plans to seek clarification from the department. In a statement to the L.A. Times, he said, “American taxpayers deserve to hear from our federal scientists. While I understand the need for coordination and the establishment of appropriate protocols, we must ensure there’s proper access to our federal scientists and the valuable work they do for our country.” A spokesperson for the department told the paper that it had merely asked employees to adhere to media guidelines set by the previous administration.

Stakeholders Discuss Open Science in EU and US

At a June 27 Wilson Center event that convened open science stakeholders from both sides of the Atlantic, European diplomats discussed actions the European Union has recently taken to promote open science. These include the requirement that the results of all research receiving Horizon 2020 funding be published in open access journals and the planned 2020 launch of the European Open Science Cloud. Jean-Claude Bergelman, the head of open science and data policies at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, described a future where open data will allow science to evolve “like software” with a continuous stream of edits and improvements, displacing journal articles as the primary scientific output. Jared Banks, a diplomat in the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Science and Technology Adviser, expressed support for open science and pointed to the recent launch of an effort to establish a Federal Data Strategy, including principles such as promoting transparency and improving data sharing and access.

DOE, NSF User Facility Group Holds First Annual Meeting

The Society for Science at User Research Facilities (SSURF) — which aims to provide a forum for stakeholders in Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and other federally sponsored scientific user facilities — held its inaugural annual meeting at the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland, last week. Participants explored a number of factors currently reshaping the landscape of user facility science. A number of sessions in particular were devoted to the adoption of persistent identifiers to track the contributions of researchers and the facilities they use. After 18 months of operation, SSURF now counts 26 user facilities as members.

Events This Week

Monday, July 2 NASA: Planetary Science Advisory Committee teleconference
1:00 - 5:00 pm

Tuesday, July 3 No events

Wednesday, July 4 Independence Day

Thursday, July 5 No events

Friday, July 6 March for Science: “Science | Government, Institutions, and Society Summit” (continues through Sunday)
Hilton Chicago (Chicago, IL)

Monday, July 9 DOE: Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee meeting
9:00 am - 4:30 pm, Crowne Plaza Washington National Airport (Arlington, VA)

DC Government: DC Science Assessment Development Task Force meeting
3:00 - 4:30 pm, Office of the State Superintendent of Education (1050 1st St. NE, DC)

Opportunities

Research!America Issuing Grants for Bipartisan Candidate Engagement Initiative

Research!America, an organization focused on biomedical and health research advocacy, is accepting proposals from student science policy groups to participate in its new Bipartisan Candidate Engagement Initiative. The initiative aims to elevate the importance of scientific research in the 2018 midterm elections by providing funding for activities to increase civic engagement of early career researchers, including roundtable discussions and lab tours with candidates, social media campaigns, and local media outreach. Proposals are due July 13.

UCAR Seeking Public Policy Fellows

The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) is accepting applications for its 2019 Next Generation Fellowship in Public Policy program. The fellowship program provides two years of financial support for graduate school and two summer internship opportunities in UCAR’s government affairs office in Washington, D.C. Students from underrepresented populations planning to pursue a graduate degree in atmospheric or Earth system science with a focus in public policy are encouraged to apply by July 18.

NOAA Seeking Feedback on Draft Ocean Science Report

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is accepting public comment on the draft report “Science and Technology for America’s Oceans: A Decadal Vision.” The report describes five goals to advance the U.S. ocean S&T enterprise over the next decade, and identifies key objectives, R&D priorities, and research opportunities to meet those goals. Submissions are due Aug. 27.

Know of an upcoming science policy opportunity? Email us at fyi@aip.org.Know of an upcoming science policy event? Email us at fyi@aip.org.