NASA, NSF Take Hits in House Budget

It seems discussion on Capital Hill of the burgeoning federal deficit is loudest when the House, Senate or Administration considers the VA, HUD and Independent Agencies appropriations bill. Perhaps the bill always serves as the fall guy because alphabetically it is the last of the 13 appropriations bills Congress considers, then ignores and then hurriedly mushes together with the other unpassed funding bills several months into the new fiscal year.

The long stumbling title alone is only a small clue to the hodgepodge of agencies, priorities and orphans huddled together to form the third-largest appropriations bill considered each year behind Defense and Labor/HHS/Education.

Under the Independent Agencies portion of the title are two federal offices of considerable interest to most state and local tech-based economic development efforts: the National Science Foundation and NASA. These agencies would see cuts of $111 million and $229 million, respectively, if the version of the bill passed by the full House Appropriations Committee were to become law.

NASA

The NASA appropriation is $1.1 billion below the President's request and 1.5 percent below current appropriations. Press materials from the House Appropriations Committee website explain, "The bulk of these savings come from the elimination of funding for new initiatives. The reductions include $30 million for technology maturation efforts; $230 million from Project Prometheus related to Jupiter Icy Moon Orbital; $438 million resulting from delaying the Crew Exploration Vehicle; and $100 million from Space Launch Initiatives by accelerating the termination of activities."

The bill, on the other hand, fully funds the Mars program announced by the President earlier this year, and according to the American Institute of Physics (AIP), increases funding above the requested level for NASA Education Programs, providing the "National Space Grant College and Fellowship program $28.2 million (compared to an FY 2004 appropriation of $25.3 million)." AIP reports the NASA EPSCoR program would receive $12 million, compared to an FY 2004 appropriation of $10 million.

National Science Foundation (NSF)

The NSF FY 2005 budget level approved by the House Appropriations Committee is 5 percent less than the president's request and two percent less than current year appropriations. AIP reports, "Neither the draft version of the committee's report or the press release issued yesterday explains why this reduction was made."

The rhetoric to increase funding for science has been significant, with Congress passing an act in 2002 doubling the NSF authorization levels between FY 2002 and FY 2008. To meet that goal, the FY 2005 authorization level is $7.378 billion -- 35 percent higher than the $5.467 billion in appropriations approved by the committee last week.

AIP reports, "The committee report explains that 'Given the overall funding constraints, no funds are provided for the proposed [$20 million] Workforce for the 21st Century program, the proposed new class of Science and Technology Centers [$30 million], or the proposed [$10 million] Innovation Fund.'" The EPSCoR program would receive level funding from the current fiscal year appropriation of $94.4 million.

The Committee report on the VA, HUD and Independent Agencies appropriation will be posted at: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app05.html