(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.)
HOUSE-SENATE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE APPROVES NSF, NASA FUNDING BILL—The VA-HUD and Independent Agencies appropriations conference committee approved the FY 2002 VA-HUD-IA appropriations bill November 6. The bill reconciles the differences between the House and Senate versions passed earlier this summer. This bill, which provides funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), will be passed by both the House and the Senate today, before being sent to the President for his signature; he is expected to sign it into law.
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF)
Overall, the conference agreement provides NSF with $4.79 billion for FY2002, an increase of 8.4 percent over FY 2001, and 6.1 percent over the budget request.
Within NSF, the Research and Related Activities account (RRA) receives $3.598 billion, an increase of 7.63 percent over the FY 2001 level of $3.343 billion. The conference agreement increases the budget request level for all the directorates, and provides the following (percentages indicate comparison to FY 2001):
Biological Sciences: $508.98 million (+4.85 percent), including $75 million for plant genome research Computer and Information Systems and Engineering: $515.80 million (+7.93 percent)
Engineering: $467.51 million (+8.50 percent)
Geosciences: $610.65 million (+8.62 percent)
Mathematical and Physical Sciences: $922.19 million (+8.38 percent)
Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences: $168.90 million (+2.71 percent)
U.S. Polar Research Programs: $300.00 million (+9.78 percent), including $68.07 million for U.S. Antarctic Logistical Support Activities Integrative Activities: $106.51 million (+8.96 percent)
The conference report provides specific increases over the Administration's request for the following NSF research initiatives: $25 million for Information Technology Research (ITR) activities, an increase of $38.10 million over FY 2001 for a total of $297.53 million; $25 million for the Nanoscale Science and Engineering initiative, an increase of $49.03 million for a total of $198.71 million; and $12.5 million for the polar and ocean sciences as well as other national NSF user facilities facing significantly increased energy costs.
The Education and Human Resources account (EHR) receives $875.00 million, an increase of 11.34 percent over FY 2001. The conference agreement provides $160 million for the new Math and Science Partnerships Initiative (MPSI), $40 million less than the amount requested by the President. In addition to funding for this new program, the report provides $11 million for the reinstatement of the Office of Innovation Partnerships, which was not included in the President's request and $5 million for a new undergraduate workforce initiative.
This latter initiative would be used to "establish a new merit-based, competitive grants program for colleges and universities" to increase the number of degree recipients in science and engineering. The conference report also provides $105.5 million for Graduate Research Fellowships to raise the stipend level to $21,500 in FY 2002 if funding permits.
The Major Research Equipment account, which is renamed the "Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction" account (MREFC), receives $138.8 million in FY 2002, which is a $14.4 million increase over FY 2001. The conference agreement would fund the same three continuing projects requested by the President as well as three other projects.
Large Hadron Collider (LHC): The LHC, a physics facility being constructed at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland, would receive the requested funding of $16.9 million in FY 2002, an increase of $0.54 million over FY 2001.
Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES): NEES would receive the requested funding level of $24.4 million, a decrease of $3.74 million from FY 2001.
Terascale Computing Systems: The agreement provides $35 million for the Terascale project, a decrease of $9.9 million from FY 2001, and $20 million less than the President's request. The report includes language expressing the conferees' commitment to this program for a three year period, but indicates that some funding was held for next year in order to make room for other MRE projects.
Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA): The conference agreement would provide $12.5 million for initial construction of the radio telescope.
IceCube Neutrino Detector: IceCube would receive $15 million for start-up costs.
HIAPER: The High-Performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research would receive $35.0 million.
The conference report directs NSF to "provide a report regarding the full life-cycle cost of each of the projects or facilities funded through this account since its inception." This report, which is due to Committee no later than February 28, 2002, would require a cost history, including design and development, construction, and operation and maintenance, for each facility currently or previously funded through this account. Furthermore, the conference report directs NSF to provide a "detailed priority-based description, multi-year budget, and milestone plan for all projects funded or proposed to be funded through the MREFC account." This report is due along with the Foundation's annual budget submission.
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) (Please note: The Appropriations Committee and NASA are utilizing a new budget structure in FY 2002 which eliminates the Mission Support account and allocates the "Institutional Support" funding applicable to each science enterprise. In order to provide proper comparisons, FY 2001 figures have been recalculated under the new budget structure. Therefore, these figures will differ from the FY 2001 funding levels reported last year.)
The Conference report provides NASA a total of $14.8 billion, $282 million above the President's request of $14.511 billion, and $508 million (3.8%) over the final FY 2001 funding level of $14.253 billion.
Within the bill, the Committee endorses the Bush Administration's proposal that the $4 billion cost overrun on the International Space Station (ISS) come solely from within the Human Space Flight account, thus maintaining the firewall between the funding for the science programs and the funding for ISS. In order to accommodate this requirement, the bill cuts the ISS by $75 million, transfers the entire ISS research budget to the Office of
Biological and Physical Research (OBPR), and eliminates the Crew Return Vehicle, thus limiting the size of the crew onboard the ISS to three instead of seven. The bill does direct NASA to study how it could build the CRV over time.
The bill provides $2.848 billion for the Office of Space Science, $62.58 million above the request of $2.786 billion in FY 02, and $232 million over the $2.625 billion provided in FY 01. Included in this funding is the full $430.9 million requested for Mars exploration, a $3.4 million increase over the FY 01 level of $427.5 million. Also, the bill provides $3 million for the Solar Probe, $8.9 million for future solar-terrestrial probes and $50.2 million for Living with a Star (a $10 million increase over the budget request). Finally, the bill provides the full request of $92.1 million for the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST).
The bill funds the Office of Earth Science at $1.573 billion, $58.4 million above the President's request of $1.515 billion, but still 8.3% below the FY2001 funding level of $1.716 billion. However, the bill also includes a $17.2 million general reduction to the Office of Earth Science, which NASA will have to decide how to implement. The report does not indicate any specific changes to the budget request for the Earth Observation System (EOS), which was $371.9 million, (down from the $414.3 m in FY 01.
According to NASA, this reduction is the expected result of wrapping-up the original EOS satellite deployments). It is unclear how the general reduction will impact the EOS program or whether the $74 million increase for the EOS Follow- on program requested by the Administration will be fully implemented. The reason for the general reduction appears to be that the $58.4 million added to the budget request is insufficient to pay for the $23.5 million increase to the EOS Synergy program, the $6 million increase to the EOSDIS Core Systems expansion, and 21 individual Congressional earmarks in the Earth Science account. Final funding levels for individual programs within the Office of Earth Science will not be available until NASA finalizes its FY 2002 operating plan later this year.
Finally, the bill provides the Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) $714.4 million for FY 2002. This is $353.5 million above the President's request of $360.9 million, but it includes the transfer of the entire research program from the International Space Station program ($283.6 million) not contemplated in the budget request. The bill also increases the Space Station research funding by an additional $55 million for the Fluids and Combustion Facility and "other priority space station research and equipment." The remaining increase appears to be to cover the expense of a additional Congressional earmarks.