UPDATED 11/10/2004! -- Though our CRAN efforts were successful in not only garnering higher numbers for NSF from the Senate Appropriations Committee ($5.75 billion for FY 05, the President's requested level), but also higher numbers for NSF CISE (a 4.1 percent increase, a higher percentage increase than any other major directorate), it now appears that the House and Senate conference may adopt the lower House numbers in their deliberations over the Omnibus Appropriations bill. Members of the conference committee need to hear from CRAN members, especially those whose representatives sit on the House and Senate Appropriations committee (who will serve as the conferees), about the importance of supporting NSF at the highest possible level. And they need to hear before November 16th!.

The sample letters below have been re-tooled to reflect the new situation. Just replace the text in red to reflect your details. Please once again fax copies of your letters to your two Senators and your institution's congressman in the House of Representatives. Please also fax or e-mail a copy of your correspondence to Peter Harsha, CRA Director of Government Affairs, at 202-667-1066. Having a portfolio of letters of support from our member institutions will aid us greatly in making the case for more support of IT R&D on the Hill. In addition, please send a copy to your institution's government relations staff. If you have any questions about who to contact, or how to contact them, please let Peter know (harsha@cra.org).

When using the sample letter, please be sure to change the text in red to reflect your institution!
Sample Letter: .rtf - .txt

Contact Information below!

The Situation: (August 13, 2004) The House Appropriations Committee has "marked up" its version of the FY 2005 VA-HUD-Indpendent Agencies appropriations bill, approving a plan to cut $111 million from the overall budget of the National Science Foundation (NSF) compared to FY 2004 -- $278 million below the President's request for the agency for FY 2005. The bill would cut $74 million from the Foundation's core research budget (the Research and Related Activities Account) compared to FY 2004 levels. The balance of the cuts would come from halting three programs planned to start in FY 05 -- the Workforce for the 21st Century Program ($20 million), a new class of Science and Technology Centers ($30 million) and a proposed Innovation Fund ($5 million) -- but the remainder ($18.7 million) would come from existing programs.

The cuts come not quite two years after Congress and the President enacted legislation authorizing the doubling of the Foundation's budget over five years (HR 4664). Though that bill was an important signal of support for NSF and the federal role in funding basic research from Congress and the Administration, it didn't actually appropriate any money -- just authorized it to be spent should the appropriations committee determine there are sufficient funds in a given year. The levels approved by the House Appropriations Committee for FY 2005 fall well below the 15 percent increase authorized by Congress and the President in HR 4664.

Though these cuts don't yet single out any particular directorate or discipline within NSF, the fact that NSF is the lead agency and largest funder in the federal IT R&D initiative makes them especially significant to computing researchers.

The Appropriations Committee action clears the way for the bill to receive full consideration in the House, though it's unclear when that will happen. The Senate VA-HUD-Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee will consider its own bill beginning after the month-long congressional recess in August.

Action Requested:Members of the House and Senate must be encouraged to support increased funding at NSF, preferably at the level authorized in HR 4664 -- a bill approved overwhelmingly in the House and unanimously in the Senate. Members need to hear from our community emphasizing the importance of supporting basic research, especially IT R&D, in ensuring the nation's long-term competitiveness, in underpinning the technologies that help provide the national defense, and in enabling the research that allows us to live longer, healthier lives.

In particular, CRAN members should contact both their senators. The Senate Appropriations committee may consider employing some creative bookkeeping -- declaring money spent on veterans through the Veterans' Administration "emergency funding" to remove it from the budget cap calculations, for example -- to free up funding for other programs within the VA-HUD-Independent Agencies bill. As the bill also funds the Department of Housing and Urban Development and NASA (which received over $1 billion in funding cuts in the same bill), there's no guarantee any of that additional funding will find it's way to NSF. Members of the Senate need to be reminded of the important role NSF plays in IT R&D and American innovation.

Below is a sample letter for use in crafting your request letter. In addition to faxing your two Senators and your institution's congressman in the House of Representatives, please also fax or e-mail a copy of your correspondence to Peter Harsha, CRA Director of Government Affairs, at 202-667-1066. Having a portfolio of letters of support from our member institutions will aid us greatly in making the case for more support of IT R&D on the Hill. In addition, please send a copy to your institution's government relations staff. If you have any questions about who to contact, or how to contact them, please let Peter know (harsha@cra.org). Please send your faxes by September 7, 2004!

When using the sample letter, please be sure to change the text in red to reflect your institution!
Sample Letter: .rtf - .txt

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