110th U.S. Congress -
FY 2008 Federal Agenda
Federal Agency Priorities
National Science Foundation
Under the President’s American Competitiveness Initiative and both the House and Senate appropriations bills, the National Science Foundation (NSF) was slated to receive a funding level of $6.02 billion in FY 2007, which would have represented an increase of $438 million (7.9%) over the FY 2006 level. The year-long joint resolution for FY 2007 does not allow for such an increase, however. In the changing global economy, NSF’s research and education activities are more important than ever to maintaining U.S. leadership in cutting edge science and technology. The UH System urges Congress to continuing its strong leadership on competitiveness issues by reaffirming its commitment to a ten-year doubling of the NSF budget beginning in FY 2008.
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding has not seen significant growth since the completion of the NIH doubling in FY 2003. While recognizing the budgetary constraints faced by Congress in funding a $28 billion agency, the UH System hopes it will be possible to increase the nation’s investment in biomedical research, which both saves lives and stimulates a growing sector of the economy. Increased NIH funding would benefit the Houston area through the newly formed partnership between UH and The Methodist Hospital, as well as the region’s other excellent biomedical research institutions.
Department of Energy
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability is responsible for two programs that fund superconductivity research as it relates to the United States power grid: the High Temperature Superconductivity (HTS) Program and the Power Delivery Research Initiative (PDRI). These programs have been established in recognition of the fact that HTS is a technology critical to improving the nation’s electricity system. As a proponent and lead research institution in the field of HTS, the UH System (specifically the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH) encourages maximum funding for both programs in FY 2008. Doing so will facilitate the research and development of technologies that enhance the reliability, operational flexibility, and power-carrying capability of our electric transmission and distribution systems.
The UH System also supports increased funding within the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), particularly the Wind Energy account. Wind energy will be a key part of the solution to the Nation’s energy problems in the next century, and relatively modest investments such as these are crucial for the U.S. to keep pace with international competitors in such areas as wind turbine testing.
Finally, the UH System also supports strong funding for the DOE Office of Science, which like NSF is part of the President’s and Congress’ plan to enhance U.S. competitiveness. As with NSF, the UH System urges Congress to overcome the setback of the year-long FY 2007 joint resolution by providing a strong, doubling-level investment in the Office of Science in FY 2008.
NASA
The UH System supports human exploration of the Moon and Mars, but believes these efforts will be most beneficial to the nation and the world if coupled with a robust investment in NASA’s Earth and Space Science activities. In particular, the UH System urges Congress to follow through on authorization language setting aside part of the International Space Station budget for science (Please see “SHIELD” under “Federal Funding Priorities”).
