Washington Dispatch

ISSUE: Science Research Budgets

Congress began to mark up its twelve spending bills for fiscal year 2008 (FY 08) in May and, so far, has funded science research above the President’s request levels. (See table below.)

Although Congress might be able to pass all the FY 08 bills before the September 30th deadline, as the Democratic leadership has promised, President Bush has pledged to veto civilian spending bills that exceed his budget levels. Since enough conservative House Republicans have already staked out positions supporting the President, veto overrides are very unlikely. As a result, FY 08 spending plans are uncertain at this time.

Account	FY05 ($B)	FY06 ($B)	FY07 ($B)	FY08 ($B)
				Request	House	Senate
DOE Office of Science DOE Renewables	3.57(a) --	3.47(a) 1.16	3.8   1.46	4.4 (+15.8 %) 1.23 (-15.6 %)	4.52 (+18.9 %) 1.90 (+30 %)	4.50 (+18.3%) 1.71 (+17%)
NSF	5.48	5.59	5.92	6.43 (+8.8 %)	6.51 (+9.9 %)	6.55 (+10.6%)
NIST Core(c)       STRS       CRF NIST ATP	0.40(a)    0.37(a) 0.03  0.014	0.44(a)    0.39(a) 0.05  0.079	0.49 0.43 0.06   0.079	0.60(a) (+20%) 0.50 (+16 %) 0.09 (+59.3 %) 0 (-100 %)	0.63 (+28%) 0.50 (+16%) 0.13 (+120%) 0.09 (+14%)	0.65 (+32%) 0.52 (+21%) 0.15 (+154%) 0.10 (+27%)
DOD 6.1	1.49	1.47	1.54	1.42 (-7.8 %)	--	--
DOD 6.2	4.79	5.17	5.21	4.36 (-16.3 %)	--	--
NASA Science	5.50	5.25	5.25	5.52 (NA)(b)	--	5.66 (+3.5%)

(a)–Adjusted for Congressionally Mandated Programs (or Earmarks)  (b)–New budget structure; comparison with previous years is not appropriate. (c)–NIST Core contains both NIST STRS and NIST CRF.

NIST Acronyms: STRS–Scientific and Technical Research; CRF–Construction of Research Facilities; ATP–Advanced Technology Program

Details of NASA Science are expected in mid-July; however, the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies subcommittee approved a spending level of $5.66 billion. The bill is awaiting full Appropriations Committee action.

Before reaching the President’s desk for consideration, spending bills progress as follows: in each chamber, passage by appropriations subcommittee, passage by full committee, passage on floor of the chamber; if House and Senate versions differ, passage by conference committee followed by passage in each chamber.

To track the progress of the appropriations bills, visit www.aaas.org/spp/rd/approp08.htm or go to www.aps.org/policy/issues/research-funding.

ISSUE: Washington Office Media Update

The Washington Office assisted with the following: in Indiana, a TV spot featuring a Purdue researcher developing cellulosic ethanol appeared on the FOX affiliate in June. Three letters to the editor praising Chairman Peter Visclosky (D-IN) for his support of science in the House Energy & Water Appropriations Subcommittee appeared in two newspapers in his district–The Times of Northwest Indiana and the Post-Tribune. Don Koetke of Valparaiso and Bruce Bunker and Wayne Mitchell of the Notre Dame were the authors.