May 24, 2016

This May, the House Appropriations Committee approved their fiscal year (FY) 2017 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations bill. The CJS appropriations bill provides funding for NASA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), among other federal agencies.

The bill proposes decreases for NSF, NIST, and NOAA and would keep funding for NASA and OSTP relatively flat when compared to FY 2016 levels.

Within NASA and NOAA, the geosciences would see significant decreases in funding: NASA Earth Science would receive $1.7 billion, a 12 percent decrease compared to FY 2016 levels, and NOAA’s National Ocean Service and Oceanic and Atmospheric Research division would receive $475 million and $436 million, respectively, a 5 percent and 5.7 percent cut.

NSF would receive $7.4 billion, a slight decrease from FY 2016; however, research would receive a slight increase within NSF to $6.1 billion, a 1 percent increase. Furthermore, the House version of the bill does not include cuts to specific NSF directorates, which has been a major concern for the geosciences community during the budget negotiations for FY 2016 and FY 2017.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved their version of the CJS bill last month. Both bills still need to be passed by their respective chambers before they can be conferenced into a final appropriations bill.

Sources: House Appropriations Committee