Washington, D.C. (August 20)-- When Congress headed out of Washington for a month-long August recess, it left behind a number of proposals that would cut federal support of research and development (R&D) programs. While the final funding levels will likely be determined in last-minute negotiations between the administration and Congress, a progress report on FY 2000 appropriations released by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) shows that a number of federal agencies could face cuts in R&D funding.
The House would cut funding for non-defense R&D 5.1 percent or $1.1 billion from FY 1999 funding levels, according to AAAS's R&D Funding Update, "House Makes Deep Cuts in Federal R&D." Because of tight budget caps within which defense spending would rise considerably, the House would make cuts to key R&D programs and deny funds for several Clinton administration initiatives. The Senate spending bills, however, would provide increases for R&D.
"Even in a time of expanding federal surpluses, $800 billion tax cut proposals, increased defense spending, a shrinking national debt and plans for new Medicare benefits, Congress is contemplating cuts to R&D and other discretionary programs," said Al Teich, director of AAAS's Science and Policy Programs.
The House would cut R&D funding for a number of federal agencies, including the Department of Commerce (down nearly one-fourth--21.5 percent--from FY 1999 to $844 million), NASA ($9.0 billion, down 7 percent) and the Department of Energy ($6.8 billion, down 2.9 percent). The National Science Foundation, which has seen increases in previous years, would face a cut of 2.4 percent to $2.6 billion.
NASA's budget would decline significantly in the House plan, from $13.7 billion in FY 1999 to a proposed $12.7 billion, a cut of $1 billion or 7.4 percent. NASA's Science, Aeronautics and Technology (SAT) account, which funds most of NASA's R&D, would decline 12.0 percent to $5.0 billion because of deep cuts to the Earth Science and Space Science programs. The House would cancel several missions, and reduce funds for future missions in the Discovery and Explorer space science programs.
The House would eliminate the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) in the Department of Commerce, and would make cuts to most R&D programs in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Senate, in sharp contrast, would provide generous increases to most Commerce R&D programs, including ATP, for a 15.8 percent increase in total Commerce R&D ($1.2 billion).
In the wake of growing congressional anger over security breaches and allegations of mismanagement at DOE weapons labs, the House would impose numerous restrictions on DOE activities, would withhold $1 billion until DOE is restructured, and would cut funding for R&D programs. The Senate, however, would provide increases for most DOE programs for total R&D appropriations of $7.3 billion, an increase of 4.9 percent.
The House would dramatically scale back first year funding for the administration's proposed Information Technology for the Twenty-First Century initiative. NSF requested $146 million for its role in IT2, but the House would provide only $35 million.
The appropriations process has turned into a protracted budget-cutting struggle even in a time of budget surpluses because steep cuts to discretionary programs are required to meet the budget totals established in Congress's FY 2000 budget resolution, which in turn were based on discretionary spending caps enacted in 1997. Under the caps, total FY 2000 discretionary spending must be cut more than $30 billion below the amount appropriated for FY 1999.
This fall, the FY 2000 appropriations process will likely again grind to a halt, and the final funding levels for many R&D programs will likely be decided as minor items in final negotiations between the president and the Congress.
"With minds already turning to the 2000 elections, both Congress and the president are focused on big-picture items such as tax cuts, Medicare, Social Security and national defense," Teich said. "In such an environment, it would be easy for federal R&D to get lost in the shuffle. The House-proposed cuts for R&D could be close to the final funding levels unless the scientific community makes its voice heard loudly about the importance of federal support for R&D."
The complete series of AAAS R&D Funding Updates is available on the AAAS R&D Web site ( http://www.aaas.org/spp/R&D ). AAAS, the world?s largest federation of scientists, works to advance science for human well-being through its projects, programs and publications. With more than 143,000 members and 282 affiliated societies, AAAS conducts many programs in the areas of science policy, science education and international scientific cooperation. AAAS publishes the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Science, as well as a number of electronic features on the World Wide Web.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Reporters who would like a copy of the R&D Funding Update should contact Lynn Fleetwood at 202-326-6434, or lfleetwo@aaas.org .