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What’s Ahead
Trump’s First Official Budget Request Out Tuesday
The White House is set to release the president’s budget request for fiscal year 2018 on Tuesday, detailing recommended funding levels across the federal government. The broad outlines of the budget were already unveiled in the Trump administration’s budget blueprint released in March. That document showed that most science agencies would be targeted for cuts, and that certain applied R&D and education programs would be scaled back dramatically or eliminated. However, many programs and even some agencies were not discussed in the blueprint. Leaked documents are filling in some of these missing details while confirming others already telegraphed in the blueprint. FYI will report in depth on the budget request over the upcoming days and weeks.
Members of Congress Already Defending R&D
Lawmakers from both parties have signaled their continued support for R&D programs in the fiscal year 2018 budget, including a range of programs on the chopping block in President Trump’s budget request:
- DOE: A group of six Republican senators led by Lamar Alexander (R-TN) sent a letter to Trump on May 18 urging him to continue to support DOE research programs. On April 28, 67 Democratic House members, led by physicist Bill Foster (D-IL) and mathematics Ph.D. Jerry McNerney (D-CA), also sent a letter to Trump urging against cuts to the DOE Office of Science.
- NSF: A bipartisan group of 162 House members sent a letter on April 4 to the appropriations subcommittee responsible for NSF’s budget, urging it to fund the agency at an $8 billion level, about a 7 percent increase over fiscal year 2017.
- NASA: A group of Democratic senators led by Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who chair the Senate Career and Technical Education Caucus, wrote to Trump on May 17 protesting the administration’s proposal to eliminate the NASA Office of Education.
- NIH: Also on May 17, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee responsible for the NIH budget, said he prefers “regular increases” for the biomedical research agency and is “disappointed” with the proposed multi-billion-dollar decrease.
Democrats Call for Increase in Non-Defense Spending
House and Senate Democratic leaders are making a coordinated pitch for raising discretionary spending caps in fiscal year 2018. House Democrats held a news conference last week, and Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT) called President Trump’s proposal to slash an additional $54 billion in non-defense discretionary spending in fiscal year 2018 “ draconian” and “ simply unacceptable.” In a letter to the Senate Budget Committee, he also pointed out that, after budget scorekeeping adjustments, non-defense spending is set to receive an effective 3 percent cut this year. Adding Trump’s proposed cuts on top of that would bring the total non-defense cut to 13 percent cut. Although Republicans control the Senate, under current rules they almost certainly will need Democratic votes to pass appropriations legislation.
Congress Faces Delayed Start to Budget Cycle
Ordinarily, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees begin to unveil their own funding bills about two months following their receipt of the president’s request, which usually arrives in February but this year is only now arriving. Congress only completed work on fiscal year 2017 appropriations a few weeks ago and must contend with marquee healthcare and tax reform legislation as well as the scandals now engulfing the Trump administration. It is rare, even in ordinary times, for Congress to complete appropriations legislation in time for the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1. This year, the odds appear even slimmer.
Budget Events to Dominate This Week
Over the coming weeks, Congress will be holding numerous hearings to discuss the president’s budget request for specific agencies. Details for each event are in Upcoming Events:
- This week, the House and Senate Budget Committees will hear from Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney about the overarching request.
- The House and Senate Armed Services Committees will examine the National Nuclear Security Administration request.
- House Appropriations Subcommittees will discuss the requests for the Departments of Commerce and Education.
- Several agencies are also holding budget briefings at their headquarters.
Science Committee to Examine Overhead Research Costs
On Wednesday, the House Science Committee is holding a hearing to discuss how federal agencies negotiate and monitor the overhead costs of research, with a focus on the National Science Foundation. Testifying before the committee are Dale Bell, director of NSF’s Division of Institution and Award Support; John Neumann, a director at the Government Accountability Office; James Luther, board chairman of the Council on Governmental Relations; and Richard Vedder, an economics professor at Ohio University. Overhead costs emerged as a topic of discussion in Congress this year after Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price suggested that President Trump’s proposed budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health could be absorbed by reducing the amount that NIH provides grant recipients for “indirect” or overhead costs.
Senate Committee to Hear from DOE Deputy Secretary Nominee
On Thursday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will consider President Trump’s nomination of Dan Brouillette to fill the deputy secretary post at the Department of Energy. Senators are likely to ask Brouillette about his views on the proposed cuts to DOE’s energy R&D portfolio and how the department will consider scientific findings. Democratic Senators on the committee pressed the nominee for deputy secretary of the Interior Department on the latter subject at a May 18 hearing.
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In Case You Missed It Senators Defend Energy Research Funding Amid Uncertainties
Senators from both sides of the aisle are vocalizing their support of research programs at the Department of Energy. As mentioned above, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and four other Republicans sent a letter last week urging President Trump to maintain funding for DOE research in the fiscal year 2018 budget, stating:
Leading Candidates for Trump’s NASA and NOAA Picks Emerging
Reports from NASA Watch and the Washington Post are pointing toward Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) as the frontrunner to be President Trump’s selection for NASA administrator and AccuWeather CEO Barry Myers for administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, respectively. Bridenstine is a former U.S. Navy pilot who has worked on a range of space policy issues since arriving in Congress in 2013. Myers co-founded and heads one of the nation’s leading weather communication companies. The timeline for nomination and confirmation is still uncertain.
Materials Research Decadal Survey Launches
The National Academies committee conducting the next decadal survey for materials research met for the first time on May 19 to consider its tasking statement. The study’s sponsors, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, emphasized at the meeting that the report should be relevant to materials research communities beyond those funded by either agency and encouraged the panel to use the 1990s decadal survey as a model for how to structure their report. The committee’s website has listings of upcoming meetings and town halls as well as a newsletter signup and a form for the community to submit input.
Scientific Societies Concerned About Visa Vetting Proposal
Over 50 scientific societies sent a letter to the Trump administration on May 18 expressing concerns about a proposed expansion of the information collected by the State Department as part of the visa application process. The groups write:
Democrats Question EPA’s Dismissal of Science Board Members
Congressional Democrats have been demanding answers from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt after the agency dismissed half of the members on its Board of Scientific Counselors earlier this month. The latest letter to Pruitt was sent last week by senior Democratic members of the House Science and Energy committees, who have asked for documentation on why EPA decided not to renew members’ terms. They also said they expect Pruitt “to adhere to the requirements of [the Federal Advisory Committee Act] for transparency and balance in making new appointments” and ensure that they are “bound by conflicts of interest regulations.” The Science Committee Democrats also invited the chair of the board, Deborah Swackhammer, to testify before the committee at a May 23 hearing.
On the Senate side, Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Tom Carper (D-DE) submitted a request for information on May 17 after sending a letter to Pruitt earlier in May. Carper asked Pruitt for details on the reasoning not to renew membership, citing concern with EPA’s actions as well as Pruitt’s “engaging in a broad approach of denying the science that forms the basis of sound environmental regulation.”
Biotech Leaders Discuss Research Funding at White House
Leaders from the biotechnology industry met with Vice President Mike Pence, Ivanka Trump, and other senior White House officials on May 9 to discuss the role of federal funding in advancing critical biomedical research. Also in attendance was National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, who said the meeting was convened in order for experts to provide an overview of the “whole ecosystem” involved in biomedical innovation.
Collins also spoke on May 16 on the advances in biomedical research and NIH’s top priorities for fiscal year 2018 at the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Appropriations subcommittee hearing. Subcommittee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) in his opening statement said he was “especially disappointed” in the proposed cuts to NIH and worries that the reduced funding “would stall the progress that our recent investments were intended to achieve and potentially discourage promising scientists from entering or remaining in biomedical research.”
Regulatory Reform Bill Clears Senate Committee
A sweeping bill to overhaul how the federal government crafts regulations – the Regulatory Accountability Act – was approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by a 9 to 5 vote at a May 17 markup. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), a co-sponsor of the bill, was the only Democratic committee member to vote yes. Among its many provisions, the bill would require that “all studies, models, scientific literature, and other information developed or relied upon by the agency, and actions taken by the agency to obtain that information, in connection with the determination of the agency to propose the rule that is the subject of the rulemaking shall be placed in the docket for the proposed rule and made accessible to the public.” The bill also would also direct agencies to base regulatory decisions on “the best reasonably available scientific, technical, or economic information.”
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Events This Week
Thursday, May 25 ADDED -- USGS: FY18 Budget Overview
9:00 am, Webcast
Contact karmstrong@usgs.gov for details
Monday, May 29 Memorial Day
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Opportunities AAAS Hosting Chat on S&T Policy Fellowships
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is holding an online chat on Thursday for interested applicants to learn more about its Science and Technology Policy Fellowships. The yearlong fellowship in Washington, D.C., places individuals with a doctoral degree in science or engineering in positions across the federal government to learn about and contribute to the public policy making process.
Director of National Intelligence Hiring S&T Weapons Analyst
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is seeking applicants for a Science and Technology Analyst position in the National Counterterrorism Center. The individual will use their scientific expertise to “analyze weapons proliferation and proliferators of conventional weapons systems,” as well as brief senior officials on intelligence issues. Applicants must have a background in chemistry, chemical engineering, physics, nuclear engineering, or a related field, with prior military analysis experience preferred. Applications are due June 1.
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.
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