The Emergency Supplemental for FY08 — the last chance to rectify the appropriations shortfall for science caused by the FY 08 Omnibus Appropriation — has been signed by the President and is now law. Though science funding made it into the supplemental — one of the few non-defense items in the bill — the win for the science community is somewhat symbolic. The amount included ($400 million — see here for a breakdown) is only about a third of the total shortfall of the FY08 appropriations, but it is nevertheless a sign that Congress and the White House understand the importance of research funding and are willing to back up their vocal support with some additional funding.
Meanwhile, the FY 09 appropriations process marches on, with some better news for science. As always, stay tuned here for the latest as the appropriations cycle moves forward (or not) this year.
The Coalition for National Science Funding held another successful Science Exposition on Capitol Hill last night and once again CRA played a part. Manning this year’s booth for CRA was Dr. R. Michael Young from North Carolina State University who did a fantastic job showing his work using the underlying technology of video games for more serious educational and research purposes. The exhibit received a great deal of attention from Congressional staff, Members of Congress, and other exhibitors. The event, a sort of science fair for Congress and staff, had 32 booths manned by researchers representing universities and scientific societies featuring some of the important research funded by the National Science Foundation. NSF showed its support for the event with staff coming out en masse including Director of NSF Arden Bement, shown here with Rep. David Price (NC).
Several hundred attendees roamed the room this year including a number of Congressmen, such as Rep. Price and Rep. Vernon Ehlers (MI), shown here with Dr. Young at the CRA exhibit. Other federal agencies who attended were NASA and OMB.
As we’ve noted before in this space, personal visits to members of Congress and their staff are vital to getting the message about the importance of computing research out. If you are coming to Washington and would like to visit your Representative and Senators, let us know and we’ll be happy to help with appointments and provide materials for your use!
A symbolic (and that’s about all) victory for science in managing to get included in the FY 08 Emergency Supplemental Appropriation approved by the House today, though the amounts leave a lot to be desired. Even though the funding levels are pretty anemic, at least some money appeared in the bill. The great majority of other “special interests” that were clamoring to get into the bill didn’t make it.
The House and Senate Leadership agreed on a $400 million bump for science agencies that got shortchanged in the FY 08 Omnibus Approps — a far cry from the $1.2 billion included by the Senate in its version and an even further cry from the levels called for in the COMPETES Act (and ACI, and the Democratic Innovation Agenda).
Here’s how it breaks out:
- $62.5 million for Department of Energy’s Office of Science (to “eliminate all furloughs and reductions in force which are a direct result of budgetary constraints”)
- $62.5 million for DOE Environmental Cleanup
- $62.5 million for NASA
- $62.5 million for NSF (a paltry $22.5 million for research and $40 million for EHR and the Noyce Scholarships)
- $150 million for NIH (so even when NIH “loses,” it still does better than the ACI agencies…)
The argument given by the House leadership for these funding levels is that these are the only amounts that are truly “emergency” funds. The FY 09 Appropriations bill are supposed to get the agencies back on track. Of course, the likelihood of the FY 09 bills getting finished is quite slim, but that’s the story.
The Senate will pass the measure next week. The President has indicated that he’s likely to sign it, so this is probably the end game for FY 08.
On to FY 09….
From the CCC Blog
- NSF Searching for Assistant Director for CISE Ran Libeskind-Hadas
- MIT’s Subra Suresh reportedly to be nominated as new Director of NSF Ran Libeskind-Hadas
- Eric Brewer wins ACM – Infosys Foundation Award Ed Lazowska
- Chuck Thacker wins Turing Award Ed Lazowska