(This legislative update has been assembled by the UH System Office of Governmental Relations and edited by the UH Office of University Relations as a service to the UH System community.)
President Clinton, speaking last week at the California Institute of Technology, announced the Administration's budget request for most of the federal science and research accounts, including significant increases for research on information technology, nanotechnology, and biomedical research, as well as increased support for core research programs. The FY 2001 Federal Budget Request will be released to the public on February 7.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
As previously reported, the Administration proposed a $1 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health. This is a 5.6% increase over the final appropriated level of $17.9 billion for FY 2000.
National Science Foundation (NSF)
The President announced a $675 million increase (17 %) for the National Science Foundation. If Congress approves the President's request, this increase would raise the NSF's budget to $4.6 billion for FY 2001. Significantly, $320 million, or 47 %, of the proposed increase, is slated for strengthening core programs. The remaining $355 million will go to research in nanotechnology, biocomplexity, Information Technology Research (ITR), and workforce training initiatives. It has also been revealed that NSF will request a second terascale computing facility for FY 2001 in the Major Research Equipment (MRE) account as a part of the ITR initiative. (Note: The ITR and NNI funding discussed below is included in the NSF total listed here.)
Information Technology Research (ITR)
The Administration also announced another increase of $605 million for Information Technology Research (ITR) above the FY 2000 appropriated funding level. Similar to the FY00 request for IT2, the Administration spreads the proposed increase across seven federal agencies. These are:
However, it appears that some of the proposed increase in ITR for NSF may be included in the core programs of NSF, not in the ITR initiative within the agency.
Although information on the NASA budget request has not yet been released, at least part of the ITR program is targeted to relieve the problems of storing, managing, and preserving the data produced by NASA's Earth Observation Systems.
Nanotechnology
The much anticipated nanotechnology initiative now has a name, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The NNI is a proposal to build on current nanotechnology programs by increasing federal research in nanotechnolgy by $227 million, or 84 %. This increase would also be dispersed across several federal agencies. These are:
If approved by Congress, this proposal would raise overall federal funding on nanotechnology from $270 million in FY 2000 to $497 million in FY 2001. As with the ITR program, it is unknown precisely how the NNI request will be distributed within each agency's budget.
It is important to keep in mind that the budget request reflects the beginning of a long budget process in which Congress will ultimately have the final say on funding levels. It will also be important to review the details of each of these proposals to better understand how much is truly new investment and how much is support for on-going research. I will provide further details as they become available.
Guidelines for Contacting Legislators
It's important that legislators hear from faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the UH System. But if you are a member of the faculty or staff (a state employee) wishing to contact your legislator, it's equally important to follow certain guidelines when you write or fax letters. Go to <http://www.uhsa.uh.edu/gov/process/letter_writing.html>. for letter-writing guidelines.
For information on governmental relations policies, go to <http://www.uhsa.uh.edu/gov/policies/lobbying.html>.
To find the names and addresses of U.S. Senators and Congressmen/women, go to <http://www.usfronline.com/congress.htm>
To find the names and addresses of Texas Senators and Representatives, go to <http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members.htm>, or <http://www.house.state.tx.us/house/byzip.htm>.