AAAS Policy Alert -- February 4, 2010

Budget News

President Obama released his proposed budget for FY 2011 on February 1. In his State of the Union address on January 27, the President announced a three-year freeze on non-security discretionary spending, and indeed such spending in the FY 2011 budget request was held below FY 2010 levels at $441 billion, $5 billion less (1.1%) than last year. The proposed budget includes a deficit of $1.3 trillion, down from $1.6 trillion in FY 2010. The deficit is projected to decrease to $706 billion in FY 2014 before starting to climb again due primarily to mandatory spending increases, mainly for Medicare and Social Security.

The proposed budget's overall support for R&D totals $147.7 billion, essentially flat (up 0.2%) compared to FY 2010. In terms of constant FY 2010 dollars, support for R&D would continue the slide (a 1.7% decrease) from a small peak in FY 2009, and would represent essentially flat funding (a 0.4% increase) since FY 2004 -- not including, of course, the over $18 billion in one-time R&D funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), money which was appropriated in FY 2009 and can be spent through FY 2010. Despite the flat funding, there were significant shifts of funds within the federal R&D portfolio. Defense R&D would face a cut of $3.3 billion (3.9%) to $81.7 billion, while non-defense R&D would rise by $3.7 billion (5.9%) to $66.0 billion.

Many of the funding shifts echoed priorities announced by the President in his State of the Union Address, including the "need to encourage American innovation" through investments in basic research. The National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories all received proposed budget increases to keep these basic research agencies on their doubling tracks through 2017. Support for NSF's R&D in FY 2011 would grow to $5.6 billion (a 9.4% increase) within a total agency budget of $7.4 billion (an 8.0% increase). Among NSF's top priorities are workforce development, next-generation information and communications technology, and innovation-based entrepreneurship. R&D in DOE's Office of Science (OS) would increase to $4.6 billion (up 3.8%) in FY 2011 within a total OS budget of $5.1 billion (4.6% increase); and NIST labs would receive $706 million (a 21.7% increase) for R&D in a total NIST budget of $919 million (a 7.3% increase).

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would continue a trend of modest but steady increases to its annual budgets (apart from the one-time $10 billion stimulus allocation), with a $1.0 billion increase (3.2%) to $32.1 billion overall. NIH's R&D support would increase by $956 million (3.1%) to $31.4 billion. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) total budget would receive a slight increase of 1.5% to $19.0 billion, but the agency would undergo some significant shifts in emphasis. The Constellation program, which is developing updated technology for manned space flight to the moon by 2020, would be cancelled. Its funding would be redirected to new programs including technology demonstration ($652 million), heavy lift and propulsion R&D ($559 million), and robotic precursor missions ($125 million). The budget for the International Space Station would increase by $463 million to $2.8 billion (20.0%). These shifts in funding result in a proposed R&D investment of $11.0 billion for FY 2011, an 18.3% increase. They are expected to elicit intense scrutiny and no small amount of opposition from some members of Congress.

A brief AAAS news item provides additional R&D budget details. The AAAS preliminary analysis of R&D in the FY 2011 budget will be available shortly on the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program Website.

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Other Congressional News

Congress Examines ARPA-E. On January 27 the House Science and Technology Committee held a hearing to examine the progress of the Advanced Research Projects Agency- Energy (ARPA-E), in existence less than a year. Authorized as part of DOE by the America COMPETES Act in 2007, the program received its initial funding in the 2009 stimulus bill (ARRA). ARPA-E Director Arun Majumdar testified on the high level of interest in the program by prospective grantees. ARPA-E received more than 3700 concept papers in response to its first announcement, leading to 37 awards averaging $4 million each. Majumdar spoke of the need to translate the upstream research funded by this program into jobs for American workers. ARPA-E would receive $300 million in the FY 2011 budget request.

Maryland Senator Wants NIH Stimulus Funds to Go to Small Business. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) has introduced a bill seeking to repeal a provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that exempted NIH from the standard 2.8% set-aside reserved for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program -- which would have equaled about $250 million, according to ScienceInsider. The bill would require NIH to spend $150 million of ARRA money on SBIR grants. In other SBIR news, Congress has again extended the SBIR program as it continues to hash out the differences in its two SBIR reauthorization bills. The new deadline is April 30.

Executive Branch

Commission on Nuclear Energy Formed. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the creation of a 15-member Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future to provide recommendations for developing a long-term national solution to managing used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. The commission, co-chaired by former Rep. Lee Hamilton and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, will produce an interim report within 18 months and a final report within 24 months. As DOE has abandoned plans to use the Yucca Mountain repository, DOE officials emphasized that the commission will not attempt to find a different site for another repository but will instead focus on alternative ways to deal with nuclear waste.

Disagreements Emerge Over WMD Commission Report. On January 26, the Commission on the Prevention of WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) Proliferation and Terrorism released its "Report Card" for progress in addressing the Commission's initial recommendations, articulated in World at Risk. The Commission said that the U.S. lacks the ability to respond to an incident involving a biological agent; that oversight of high-containment labs was poor and needs to be tightened; and urged congressional action to address laboratory biosecurity risks. On the same day, the White House disagreed, citing recent policy actions. The Scientists Working Group on Biological and Chemical Weapons, based at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, was also critical of the Report Card, saying that the bioterrorist threat was "greatly exaggerated" and that the Report Card proposes solutions that will not produce the comprehensive approach needed to strengthen public health security.

EPA Announces New Nitrogen Dioxide Standard. The Environmental Protection Agency has announced a new air quality standard for short-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) emissions. EPA is setting a new one-hour NO₂ standard of 100 parts per billion (ppb) as well as new monitoring and reporting requirements. The annual standard of 53 ppb remains unchanged. "We are working to prevent short-term exposures in high-risk zones like urban communities and areas near roadways," explained EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

SEC Asks Firms to Disclose Climate Risks, Opportunities. In a 3-2 party-line vote, the Securities and Exchange Commission added risks and opportunities from climate change to the possible impacts that public companies should disclose. In an "interpretive guidance" document, the SEC notes several areas where climate change may trigger disclosure requirements, including the impact of legislation, regulation, and international accords, as well as the physical impacts of climate change.

Federal Government to Reduce Emissions. President Obama announced that the federal government -- the nation's largest energy consumer -- will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 28% below 2008 levels by 2020. The announcement builds upon targets submitted by federal agencies in response to an October 5, 2009 Executive Order on Federal Sustainability.

Nations Submit Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets. Meeting a January 31 deadline established by the Copenhagen Accord, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change received submissions of national pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 55 countries, which represent 78% of global emissions from energy use. The U.S. pledged to cut emissions "in the range of" 17% below 2005 levels by 2020, "in conformity with anticipated U.S. energy and climate legislation, recognizing that the final target will be reported … in light of enacted legislation."

People in the News. - President Obama has nominated Elisabeth Hagen as the new Undersecretary for Food and Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hagen is currently the USDA Chief Medical Officer.

- The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, has appointed Roger Wakimoto as its new director. Since 2005, Wakimoto has served as director of NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory. Wakimoto succeeds Eric J. Barron, who left NCAR to assume the presidency of Florida State University.

Elsewhere

Lancet Retracts Study Linking Autism and Vaccines. The Lancet, a major British medical journal, has formally retracted a 1998 study that linked the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism. The study, run by British researcher Andrew Wakefield, has been cited as one of the major catalysts of the autism-vaccine scare -- a scare that is still invoked in policy circles, although its hypothesis has been refuted repeatedly by subsequent studies. Wakefield continues to stand by his paper, but 10 of the 13 coauthors disavowed it years ago.

U.S. Wind Power Growth Sets New Record. The American wind power industry grew at the remarkable rate of 39% in 2009, according to a report from the American Wind Energy Association. Aided by tax credits and other incentives in the federal stimulus program, the industry added nearly 10,000 megawatts of capacity in 2009, eclipsing the previous record set in 2008. The U.S. now gets nearly 2% of its electricity from wind generators, up considerably over the past several years, but well below Europe's 5%. The report cautioned, however, that there are indications that growth in the U.S. is likely to slow in 2010.

U.K. Finds Breach of FOIA Laws from "Climategate" Emails. The UK's Information Commissioner's Office ruled that the University of East Anglia violated the country's Freedom of Information Act for failing to release data regarding climate change research. A statute of limitation prevents prosecution under the finding. John Beddington, the UK's chief scientific adviser, said there is an urgent need for more honest disclosure of the uncertainty of predictions about the rate of climate change but stressed that the underlying science of climate change is sound.

Bin Laden Blames U.S. for Global Climate Change. In an audio tape released by al Jazeera last week, Osama bin Laden held the U.S. and other industrialized nations responsible for climate change and called for a boycott of American goods and the U.S. dollar. In a departure from his usual message, he discussed globalization and monetary policy, called climate change "not an ideological luxury, but an actual fact," and criticized the U.S. for failing to sign the Kyoto Protocol.

Archived issues of AAAS Policy Alert can be found at http://www.aaas.org/spp/policyalert.

 

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Publisher: Alan I. Leshner
Editor: Steve Nelson
Contributors: Kavita Berger, Joanne Carney, Patrick Clemins, Ed Derrick, Mark Frankel, Amy Fuller, Erin Heath, Earl Lane, Gretchen Seiler, Al Teich, Kasey White, Ric Weibl

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