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What’s Ahead
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| The House Science Committee is holding a hearing this week titled, “Investigating the Nature of Matter, Energy, Space, and Time,” echoing the title of a previous hearing held in 2009. This graphic depicts how the planned Electron-Ion Collider will be used to probe the complex of forces and particles that comprise and bind together atomic nuclei. (Image credit – Brookhaven National Lab) |
Flagship Physics Projects in Congressional Spotlight
The House Science Committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday focused on the High Energy Physics and Nuclear Physics programs at the Department of Energy. At the hearing, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe will make her first appearance before Congress as director of the DOE Office of Science. The committee will also hear from Jim Yeck, the project director for Brookhaven National Lab’s Electron-Ion Collider project, and Fermilab Director Lia Merminga, who will discuss the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (LBNF/DUNE). Both flagship projects have been receiving less funding than the committee believes they require, a concern it highlighted last month at a hearing on the latest budget request for the Office of Science. Within the U.S. high energy physics community, there is also a particular worry that LBNF/DUNE may become a less compelling project as its costs crest $3 billion and its construction schedule stretches out, especially given that Japan’s Hyper-Kamiokande project has a strong chance to preempt key results. In addition to the witnesses from DOE and its national labs, the committee will hear from science popularizer Brian Greene, who directs Columbia University’s Center for Theoretical Physics, and Michael Guastella, the executive director of the Council on Radionuclides and Radiopharmaceuticals. The Office of Science recently separated its isotope production program from the Nuclear Physics program, and the subject of isotope supplies has taken on new urgency as many important isotopes are currently produced by Russian sources.
Carbon Emission Monitoring Hearing Series Continues
Four representatives of federal programs that measure sources and sinks of greenhouse gases are testifying on Thursday before the House Science Committee: Eric Lin, the director of the Material Measurement Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology; Ariel Stein, acting director of the Global Monitoring Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division; and Bryan Hubbell, National Program Director for Air, Climate, and Energy at the Environmental Protection Agency. The hearing follows on the heels of another the committee held in conjunction with the release of a majority staff report that criticizes the oil and gas sector’s monitoring and mitigation of emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The House Climate Crisis Committee is also examining the topic of methane pollution this Friday. Expanding federal programs to track greenhouse gases has been a Biden administration priority, and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology looked at the issue in January.
House Proposing Budget Boosts for Science Agencies
House appropriators will continue work on their fiscal year 2023 spending proposals this week and have released draft legislation for the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and the Department of the Interior. Draft legislation for the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Commerce Department will also be released prior to a hearing on Wednesday. Within DOE, the committee is proposing to increase the Office of Science’s budget by 7% to $8 billion, about $200 million more than requested. It also proposes a 25% boost to $4 billion for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, nearly matching the request, and includes $100 million for a new fund to support President Biden’s invocation of the Defense Production Act to expand domestic manufacturing capacity for solar panels, transformers, electric grid components, fuel cells, electrolyzers, heat pumps, and insulation. Defense R&D spending would increase 10% to $135 billion, $3 billion more than requested. Within the Department of Interior, the budget for the U.S. Geological Survey would increase by 18% to $1.6 billion. More detailed proposals will be available when the committee releases its reports after the hearings, and figures will be compiled in FYI’s Federal Science Budget Tracker. The report for the defense bill is posted here.
House Armed Services Committee Finishing NDAA Draft
Committee work on this year’s National Defense Authorization Act is wrapping up this week, with the House Armed Services Committee convening its annual marathon meeting on Wednesday to finalize its draft of the legislation. Committee Chair Adam Smith (D-WA) has just released draft text that will be merged with contributions from seven subcommittees. Among its science provisions, Smith’s text would direct the Defense Department to report on its efforts to increase participation from minority-serving institutions in its R&D programs. The provision is motivated by a National Academies study released this spring that found the department lags other science agencies in funding such institutions. Other R&D-related provisions are likely to be introduced as amendments during this week’s meeting, as well as when the bill comes up for consideration on the House floor. The Senate Armed Services Committee completed work on its counterpart version of the bill during a closed-door meeting last week, during which it adopted 223 amendments. The committee has not released the final text, but a summary states that it supports intensified efforts in technology areas such as microelectronics, advanced communications, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing, and would establish a public-private investment pilot program to “enhance development and transition of high-priority technologies.”
Senate Advancing Nominee for Top NOAA Forecasting Job
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is meeting on Wednesday to advance the nomination of meteorologist Michael Morgan to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s portfolio of environmental observation and prediction programs. At his nomination hearing earlier this month, Morgan said if confirmed his top priorities would include improving NOAA’s observation, modeling, and supercomputing systems, as well as developing a “platform for rapid access to public weather and climate data that includes data on demographics, economic activity, and infrastructure to allow for a better understanding of the impacts of weather and climate variability on communities.” He also said he would prioritize increasing the diversity of NOAA’s workforce.
House to Vote on ARPA–H Act
This week, the House plans to vote on the bipartisan Advanced Research Projects Agency–Health Act, which would remove the new agency from the National Institutes of Health but have it remain within the Health and Human Services Department. Congress created ARPA–H through its most recent appropriations legislation and the Biden administration placed the agency within NIH, while having it report directly to the secretary of health and human services. The legislation also formally defines the agency’s mission and sets bounds on its structure, but it will have to be reconciled with the Senate version to become law. The lead sponsor of the House bill, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), has submitted an amendment for consideration on the House floor that would remove a proposed requirement that the agency director be Senate-confirmed, limit the number of program offices it could create to six, and limit managerial funding to 15% of the total budget. A search for the agency’s first director is underway.
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In Case You Missed It
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| From left: Science ministers from France, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, which comprise the G7 countries. The European Union’s top research official is at far right. (Image credit – White House Office of Science and Technology Policy) |
G7 Countries Stake Out Science Coordination Priorities
Science ministers from the G7 countries issued a joint statement last week that outlines shared priorities in advance of the full G7 summit starting this Sunday. The ministers pledged to restrict science cooperation with Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine while continuing to promote “individual academic and student mobility.” They also committed to coordinate research on methods of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the impacts of climate change on ocean dynamics and biodiversity, and why infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus sometimes results in long-term symptoms. In addition, the ministers sketched out principles for placing security controls on research while preserving the openness of scientific exchange. A companion document enumerates broad principles the ministers believe should guide policies to strengthen research integrity and security, building on last year’s G7 Research Compact.
COMPETES Negotiators Narrow Scope in Search of a Deal
With negotiations running behind schedule to reconcile the America COMPETES Act with the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said last week that congressional leaders are “narrowing” the scope of the legislation in a bid to reach a compromise more quickly. According to Punchbowl News, negotiations appear to be focusing on provisions related to semiconductor industry subsidies, the National Science Foundation, research security, and supply chain resilience. Punchbowl reported congressional leaders are aiming to reach a deal by the July 4 holiday break and pass a final bill before Congress’ August recess. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that some Republicans prefer to revisit the legislation in the next Congress, given they may gain control of the House and Senate after the midterm elections this fall. Among the contentious items that may be omitted from any final package include provisions relating to trade, taxation, immigration policy, and climate mitigation.
NIST Grapples with Reemergence of Earmarks
In a presentation given last week on the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s appropriation for fiscal year 2022, NIST official Jason Boehm stressed that although the agency seemed to receive a significant budget increase, most of the money is earmarked for external projects with little relevance to the agency’s mission. Boehm noted Congress brought back earmarks after a ten-year moratorium and that NIST received by far the highest proportion of earmarks as a fraction of its total budget among comparable science agencies. NIST Director Laurie Locascio said during the meeting that some lawmakers she has spoken with perceive that they have actually increased the agency’s budget, “because the earmarks make it look like [NIST] got a big increase.” The outcome comes as a disappointment to NIST in part because the agency has a major backlog of facility maintenance and construction projects on its own campuses but received flat funding for non-earmarked projects. Boehm also highlighted the personnel demands that come with earmarks, such as the need for project oversight and hiring staff to assist in environmental reviews for earmarks involving construction.
Science Committee Reviews Weather Research Priorities
The House Science Committee held a hearing last week to discuss the Priorities for Weather Research report that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Science Advisory Board released late last year. Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) said he saw the hearing as a first step toward updating the major weather policy law Congress passed in 2017 and asked the witness panel, comprising scientists who worked on the report, to identify recommendations that Congress could address. Among the priorities they suggested were expanding observations in boundary layers between lands, oceans, and atmosphere; conducting social science research to better deliver weather forecasts to vulnerable and underserved populations; and sharply increasing NOAA’s supercomputing capacity. University of Oklahoma professor Fred Carr stated that each of the exascale computers the Department of Energy is currently fielding is “25 to 50 times more powerful than all of NOAA’s computer systems combined” and suggested Congress provide resources for NOAA to pursue its own exascale system. Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Mikie Sherril (D-NJ) asked Carr about NOAA’s reliance on supplemental funding provided in the wake of natural disasters to improve its supercomputing and observation systems. Carr replied the supplemental funds are welcome but that NOAA’s annual base budget for supercomputing has been too low to permit long-range planning for the “really ambitious computer power that we need.”
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Events This Week
All times are Eastern Daylight Time, unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement.
Monday, June 20
Juneteenth Holiday
Tuesday, June 21
Wednesday, June 22
Thursday, June 23
Friday, June 24
Monday, June 27
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Opportunities AIP Seeks Nominees for International Physics Leadership Medal
The American Institute of Physics is accepting nominations for the Tate Medal, which is awarded biennially to recognize non-U.S. citizens for “international leadership in physics, with an emphasis on leadership, statesmanship, and service to the physics community, as opposed to research achievement.” Self-nominations are welcome, and nominations of women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and scientists from outside the U.S. are particularly encouraged. Nominations are open through Oct. 1.
CRS Hiring Climate Science Policy Analyst
The Congressional Research Service is hiring an environmental policy analyst who will focus on science and policy issues related to climate change. The analyst will produce objective reports and information for congressional committees, members, and staff. Applications are due July 5.
Hellman S&T Policy Fellowship Application Open
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is accepting applications for the Hellman Fellowship in Science and Technology Policy, which hires early-career scientists and engineers to support the academy’s policy projects, such as its Commission on Accelerating Climate Action. Applicants must complete a doctoral degree in a science or engineering field prior to beginning the fellowship. Applications are due July 5.
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
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