Highlights-
The Senate would award increases for all parts of the Department of Commerce
R&D portfolio. The Senate would trim proposed increases for the intramural
research activities of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
in order to save two extramural NIST programs from proposed elimination. NIST’s
Scientific and Technical Research Services (STRS) would see its R&D funding
increase 6.2 percent to $409 million. The Senate would give NIST’s external
Technology Innovation Program (TIP) $65 million in 2009 and the non-R&D
Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program $110 million, in contrast
to Administration proposals to eliminate them.
-
R&D in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would
gain $52 million or 8.9 percent to $633 million in the Senate plan instead
of a requested cut (see Table), primarily from the
addition of earmarks but also because of program increases, especially in climate
change research. Total Commerce R&D would gain 6.7 percent to $1.2 billion.
Commerce
R&D in FY 2009 Senate Appropriations
On
June 19, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY 2009
Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill (S 3182) providing funding for the
Department of Commerce, the National Science Foundation (NSF),
and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),
for consideration by the full Senate in July. The House approved its own version
of the bill on June 25; full details of the House version will be available shortly.
Both the House and Senate bills contain close to $57 billion in 2009 discretionary spending, $5 to $6 billion more than the current year
and between $3 and $4 billion more than the President’s request for these programs.
While
the Bush Administration continues to propose substantial increases for the intramural
laboratories at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Commerce
at the expense of its extramural programs and other Commerce R&D, the Senate
would, as in previous years, give increases to both the intramural and extramural
parts of the NIST portfolio and also substantial increases to environmental R&D
in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The President’s
budget proposes increases for key physical sciences research agencies as part
of the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) to double funding for three key
physical sciences agencies between 2006 and 2016, including the NIST laboratories,
the DOE Office of Science, and the National Science Foundation. But in the President’s
budget, the NIST increases would go only to NIST’s intramural laboratories and
intramural construction, and would be offset by steep cuts in NIST’s external
programs.
The
Senate would trim the requested increase for NIST’s intramural research, but would
still provide an increase over the current year in order to free up money for
the extramural programs. NIST intramural research, performed in NIST facilities
in Maryland and Colorado, would gain 6.2 percent to $409 million within the Scientific
and Technical Research and Services (STRS) account. Construction funding for NIST
research facilities appears to fall, but subtracting $30 million in 2008 funding
that would go to extramural construction outside of NIST results in a $26 million
increase in NIST construction from $69 million to $105 million in 2009 in the
Senate plan. Congress added $30 million in 2008 to the normally intramural construction
account specifically for new extramural laboratory facilities grants, to be awarded
on a competitive basis to universities and other nonprofit research institutions
performing R&D related to NIST activities; applications for these grants are
being accepted right now. The Senate would not renew this program in 2009; instead,
there would be $44 million for non-R&D extramural earmarked projects for specific
performers, bringing total Construction funding in the Senate to $149 million.
The
Senate would move money from some of the proposed intramural increases over to
the extramural side to save two NIST programs from proposed elimination. NIST’s
extramural Technology Innovation Program (TIP) would receive $65 million in the
Senate instead of zero. The TIP was formerly the Advanced Technology Program
(ATP) but was restructured, reauthorized, and renamed the Technology Innovation
Program (TIP) in the August 2007 America COMPETES Act. The Senate would also save
the non-R&D Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) with a $110
million appropriation, instead of the $2 million request to close out the program.
MEP is a program to operate a nationwide network of extension centers to disseminate
better manufacturing technologies to small- and medium-sized manufacturers on
a cost-shared basis with state governments and with users. Congress has repeatedly
saved these two programs from elimination, and is set to do so again in the 2009
appropriations season.
The
total NIST budget of $813 million in the Senate plan is a dramatic $177 million
more than the Administration request because of the TIP, MEP, and earmarked construction
funds added on. Total NIST R&D would be $552 million in the Senate, a 5.9
percent increase.
Commerce’s
other main R&D agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) whose portfolio is oriented toward environmental R&D rather than the
physical sciences, would be in line for cuts like most domestic programs in the
tight overall domestic budget but the Senate, working with a more generous overall
domestic allocation, would grant a large increase for NOAA R&D. NOAA R&D
would gain $52 million or 8.9 percent to $633 million in the Senate plan (see
Table). Within Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
(OAR), the Climate Research program would increase by 11 percent to $214 million,
with small increases for the competitive research program and the NOAA laboratory
research program supplemented by $14 million for high performance computing funding.
The National Sea Grant College Program would see its funding remain stable at
$57 million instead of a requested cut. R&D in the National Ocean Service
(NOS) would gain $13 million over the request and 2008 for a total of $71 million,
primarily from the addition of Senate earmarked research projects.
Outlook
and Next Steps
The
full Senate is expected to debate and approve the Commerce-Justice-Science bill
in July, while the House is also expected to consider its version in July. But
there is increasing doubt as to whether Congress will try to send a final version
of the bill to President Bush before the October 1 start of FY 2009. The President
has threatened to veto any 2009 appropriations bill that exceeds his request;
since both the House and Senate versions of the bill do so and since Congress
is not inclined to do the heavy lifting of negotiating a House-Senate compromise
bill only to see it vetoed, the bill may have a long way to go before its funding
levels become final.
(This
analysis is one of a series of AAAS R&D Funding Updates on FY 2009 congressional
appropriations. The complete series of AAAS R&D Funding Updates, including
continually updated analyses of R&D in FY 2009 appropriations, is available
on the AAAS R&D web site (http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd)
in the "FY 2009 R&D" or the "What's
New" sections.)
- July 1, 2008
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy
Program
1200 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607
AAAS
R&D Web site: http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd
