AAAS R&D Funding Update on R&D in Interior FY 2007 Senate Appropriations -

Senate Adds to USGS R&D

Go to: -Table. Dept. of the Interior R&D in FY 2007 Senate Appropriations PDF version of this document Main R&D in the FY 2007 Budget Page Supplemental Materials: "House Approves Small Increase for USGS R&D," AAAS R&D Funding Update on Interior R&D in FY 2007 House Appropriations "2007 Budget Proposes USGS R&D Cuts," AAAS R&D Funding Update on R&D in the FY 2007 Interior Budget AAAS Analysis of R&D in the FY 2007 Budget

Highlights - The Senate has joined the House in reversing requested cuts to R&D in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Instead of a 5 percent requested cut, the Senate would give USGS R&D an almost 2 percent increase in 2007 to $569 million, roughly the same as the House appropriation (see Table). The sharpest reversal would be in the mineral resources R&D program, which Interior once again proposed to cut but Congress would save. - The total Department of the Interior R&D portfolio would be $642 million in the Senate plan, up $7 million or 1.1 percent. But in inflation-adjusted terms, R&D funding for Interior would remain on a downward trend for the seventh year in a row.  USGS R&D in FY 2007 Senate Appropriations On June 29, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the fiscal year (FY) 2007 Interior and Environment appropriations bill (HR 5386); the full House approved its own version of the bill on May 18. The bill funds most of the Department of the Interior as well as the Smithsonian Institution, the Forest Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Senate appropriations for Interior R&D would total $642 million in FY 2007, an increase of 1.1 percent in sharp contrast to a 6 percent requested cut (see Table). (For details of the President’s request for Interior R&D, please see Chapter 13 of AAAS Report XXXI: R&D FY 2007 or the March 2 Interior R&D Funding Update. For details of House appropriations, see the May 17 R&D Funding Update.)  The Department of the Interior manages most of the publicly owned lands in the United States, from the national park system to Indian lands to publicly owned mines. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the primary sponsor of R&D in Interior. USGS is one of the leading federal sponsors of earth sciences research, along with the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Within the earth sciences, USGS is particularly important in geological hazards research, including research on earthquakes and volcanoes. USGS is also a leading sponsor of water resources research and biological research. Nearly 90 percent of this research is conducted within Interior labs to address the science needs of Interior’s other agencies.  In the FY 2007 budget request released in February, the Bush Administration requested $945 million for the USGS total budget, 3 percent less than the 2006 total (see Table). But the House and now the Senate would both add money to turn the requested cut into a flat budget of $980 million in the Senate and a slight increase in the House. R&D accounts for nearly two-thirds of the USGS budget, with the remainder going to non-R&D activities such as environmental data collection, mapping, and natural hazards reduction. The Senate Interior bill would provide $569 million for USGS R&D in 2007, an increase of $11 million or 1.9 percent that contrasts with a 5 percent requested cut (see Table). The House would provide nearly identical amounts as the Senate.  Once again, as in previous years, Congress is on track to reverse sharp proposed cuts to R&D in the Geologic Hazards, Resources, and Processes Division. The 1.7 percent increase to $216 million for geologic resources R&D contrasts with a proposed 9 percent cut. In February, USGS proposed to cut the $53 million mineral resources R&D program almost in half to just $31 million, just as it has in the last several requests. But just as it has in the past three years, the House and the Senate both disagree strongly with the proposed cuts and keep the program funded near its current year level, thus signaling that the final 2007 budget will also preserve the program. Report language accompanying both the House and Senate bills disagree strongly with USGS’ rationale that minerals research could be funded by the private sector, and reaffirms the federal role in minerals research. Within this division, Congress would go along with a proposed increase to energy resources R&D to $26 million in order to perform oil shale assessments and gas hydrate research mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.  In water resources R&D, the Senate and the House would add funding to ease requested cuts.  Again, Congress rejects a perennial USGS proposal to eliminate the water resources research institutes program and instead both chambers would provide $6.4 million, the same as this year’s funding level. Other water programs would stay close to this year’s levels, for a water R&D investment of $125 million (down $2 million from 2006, but $10 million more than requested). USGS biological research programs would fall $2 million to $177 million in the Senate.   Figure 1. (click on the image for PDF) Other Interior Agencies Although USGS is the primary science agency in Interior, four other Interior bureaus also fund R&D (see Table). These include funds for minerals and mining research in the Minerals and Management Service (MMS), wildfire prevention research in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), water resources research in the Bureau of Reclamation, and R&D for Florida Everglades restoration in the National Park Service. The Senate would mostly stick to the request for R&D in these programs, but would add several earmarks to the Bureau of Reclamation to bring R&D funding to $19 million, $10 million more than requested. Impacts of the FY 2007 Interior Budget The slight increase, less than inflation, for Interior R&D in the Senate plan would keep Interior R&D declining in real terms for the seventh year in a row (see Figure 1). Interior R&D has declined sharply since FY 1994. After a large increase in FY 2000, Interior R&D has been mostly flat since then. Interior support for research has followed trends in Interior R&D, because nearly all of Interior’s R&D portfolio is research with only a small amount for development. A third of Interior’s research goes to the life sciences (see Figure 2), primarily from Biological Research program. Life sciences research increased with the creation of the National Biological Service in the early 1990s, but budget cuts in subsequent years have eroded support. Two-thirds of Interior research goes to the environmental sciences, primarily in earth-related fields such as geology. Interior support for environmental sciences research has declined steadily as the USGS budget has lost purchasing power. Interior used to be a significant supporter of engineering research, but this support was almost entirely eliminated with the closure of the Bureau of Mines. Figure 2. (click on the image for PDF) Outlook and Next Steps The full Senate may debate its Interior/Environmental bill later this month, and will most likely approve it. The House has already approved its version of the bill, but a House-Senate committee to craft a final compromise bill may not be able to reach an agreement until the fall.  (This analysis is one of a series of AAAS R&D Funding Updates on FY 2007 congressional appropriations. The complete series of AAAS R&D Funding Updates, including continually updated analyses of R&D in FY 2007 appropriations, is available on the AAAS R&D Web Site (http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd) in the “FY 2007 R&D” or the “What’s New” sections.) - July 6, 2006 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

Table. Department of the Interior
Senate Appropriations Committee Action on R&D in the FY 2007 Budget
(budget authority in millions of dollars)
				Action by Senate
	FY 2006	FY 2007	FY 2007	FY 2007	Chg. from Request		Chg. from FY 2006
	Estimate	Request	House	Senate	Amount	Percent	Amount	Percent
U.S. Geological Survey:
Surveys, Investigations, and Research (SIR):
National Mapping	40	46	47	48	2	4.3%	8	20.4%
Geologic Resources	212	194	218	216	22	11.2%	4	1.7%
Water Resources	126	115	123	125	10	8.4%	-2	-1.2%
Biological Research	179	173	176	177	4	2.3%	-2	-1.1%
Enterprise Information	1	4	4	4	0	-8.8%	2	155.6%
	______	______	_______	_______	_______		_______
Total USGS R&D	559	532	568	569	37	7.0%	11	1.9%
(USGS Non-R&D SIR Activities)	422	413	423	411	-2	-0.4%	-11	-2.7%
	______	______	______	______	_______		______
(Total USGS SIR Budget)	981	945	991	980	35	3.7%	-1	-0.1%
Bureau of Reclamation	16	9	11	19	10	105.9%	3	15.8%
National Park Service	19	14	14	14	0	0.0%	-5	-26.3%
Bureau of Land Management	13	12	12	12	0	0.0%	-1	-7.7%
Minerals Management Service	28	28	28	28	0	0.0%	0	0.0%
	_______	_______	_______	_______	_______		_______
Total Interior R&D	635	595	633	642	47	7.8%	7	1.1%
AAAS estimates based on FY 2007 appropriations bills.  Includes conduct of R&D and R&D facilities.
FY 2006 and FY 2007 request figures based on OMB R&D data and supplemental agency budget data.
Figures are rounded to the nearest million. Changes calculated from unrounded figures.
July 5, 2006 - AAAS estimates of Senate Appropriations Committee action.
These figures may be modified or rejected by the full Senate.