Recent Developments NSF AND NASA APPROPRIATIONS
When the budget process started in late winter, there was uncertainty about how a major HUD rental housing program would affect the FY 1998 budget for the National Science Foundation and NASA. With less than two weeks to go, there is still major uncertainty. House and Senate conferees remain in disagreement about the way to reduce federal housing subsidies. Senate conferees included a solution in their appropriations bill which House conferees are wary of -- both as to process and substance. If Congress can settle on a separate housing authorization bill, the way will be cleared for the VA/HUD conferees to settle the details of their own bill. If not - and there is a range of opinion on whether this will be accomplished - the budgets in the VA/HUD bill will be adjusted downward. How this would affect NSF and NASA is anyone’s guess.
OTHER APPROPRIATIONS BILLS: FY 1997 starts in two weeks, and there is a tremendous amount of work to be done on the appropriations bills. Yesterday, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) said a stop gap funding bill would be needed “for some period of time” to prevent a government shutdown. The Commerce appropriations bill still has major problems over how the nation’s next census should be taken.
FEDERAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS: Among those appropriations bills that have a long way to go is the one for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. By a narrow margin, senators voted last week to combine different education programs - including the Eisenhower Professional Development Program - into a massive multi-billion block grant. This money would be distributed to school districts based on their enrollment. Today, the House of Representatives considers a similar, but smaller, proposal. The Eisenhower Program, used for mathematics and science teacher preparation, distributes around $250 million every year -- an amount that could go up or down as individual school districts see fit. Last June, AAPM, AAPT, AAS, AIP, APS, and AVS joined with 41 other organizations urging Congress “to reaffirm the nation’s commitment to top-quality science and mathematics education by maintaining the mathematics and science focus within the U.S. Department of Education’s Eisenhower Professional Development Program” (see FYI #72 .)
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: DOE completed negotiations with the University of California for continued management of the Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. The contracts run through 2002, with an estimated value of $12.5 billion. Last week, DOE announced a $250 million Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with a consortium of American semiconductor companies. The private component of this CRADA, called the Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Limited Liability Company, will work with Sandia, Livermore, and Berkeley national labs in what is being termed a “virtual national laboratory.” The goal is to produce chips that are 100 times faster than existing versions, with 1,000 times as much memory.
HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE STUDY: Congressional Quarterly reports that the House Science Committee was just given $150,000 to finance a “project to reach out to the scientific and education communities for input on how best to shape science policy for the future.” Part of the money will be used to hire a staffer to work with Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), a physicist, on this project.
