Geoscience Policy Monthly Review
may 2015
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congress
Federal science bill passes House amid funding debate
May 22, 2015
On May 19, the House voted to approve the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2015 (H.R. 1806). The bill authorizes funds for fiscal year (FY) 2016 and 2017 to several federal science agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Office of Science and applied research and development at the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The legislation passed despite objections from the scientific community and House Democrats over budget cuts to geosciences, social and behavioral sciences, and renewable energy research.
The COMPETES Act must still pass the Senate and avoid a veto from President Obama, who preempted the House vote with a statement vowing to veto the legislation in its present form. The bill would not merely authorize funding for the NSF as a whole; it would set funding for individual science directorates within NSF, a task that has traditionally been done by NSF itself. The bill would cut the Geosciences Directorate budget by 8 percent and the Social, Behavioral, and Economics Directorate budget by 45 percent from FY 2015. The DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which was established in 2007 to channel cutting-edge energy research into new technologies, would be cut 50 percent.
In an op-ed for The Hill, Lamar Smith (R-TX), the bill’s sponsor, wrote that COMPETES would prioritize “physical sciences and biology, from which come most of the scientific breakthroughs with the potential to stimulate new industries and jobs.” During a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) countered that legislators should be “very wary of intervention” in marking funds for specific areas of research.
Sources: American Association for the Advancement of Science, Congress.gov, E&E News, The Hill, ScienceInsider, Whitehouse.gov
Updated June 8, 2015
Senate bill would increase DOE basic energy research funding
May 22, 2015
A Senate bill (S. 1398) introduced on May 20 would provide an alternative to the energy research funding levels proposed in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2015, which passed the House on May 19. While the House bill would authorize funding for science and applied research at the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the S. 1398 reauthorization targets only DOE. The House and Senate bills are separate reauthorizations of the America COMPETES Act of 2007.
The Senate bill offers more generous funding than the House version; DOE’s basic energy research budget would increase by 4 percent each year through fiscal year (FY) 2020. This increase would include the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which the House bill would cut by 50 percent. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced the bill which is cosponsored by six other senators, including Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the Chair and Ranking Member respectively of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Sen. Alexander noted, “Governing is about setting priorities, and this legislation will put us on a path to double basic energy research—one of the best ways to keep good-paying jobs from going overseas—while streamlining basic energy research programs at the U.S. Department of Energy.”
Sources: American Association for the Advancement of Science, Congress.gov, E&E News, Senate.gov
Updated June 8, 2015