Research fares well in fiscal year 2002 budget

Although the appropriation bill debates lasted almost until the very end of the session, the House and Senate both adjourned on Dec. 20 after passing all bills. To find out more detailed information about the appropriations bills, go to the Library of Congress Web site at http:// thomas.loc.gov.

While research and development funding was increased this year above what was expected, it is clear that the war on terrorism was largely responsible. President George Bush appeared to have little interest in fighting with Congress over spending bills while occupied with military and homeland security concerns. Increased spending on airline safety measures, military preparedness, and disaster relief, combined with significant increases in other areas of the federal budget, combined to send the federal budget into deficit once again.

It is likely that the administration will try to keep a tighter rein on federal spending next year, so more serious budget battles with Congress can be expected in the fall.

Three agencies' appropriated fiscal budgets — Department of Defense, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Environmental Protection Agency — are detailed below.

Department of Defense
For the second year in a row, the DOD Task Force of ASME's Inter-Council Committee on Federal R&D delivered oral testimony before the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittees.

Copies of the testimony can be found at www.asme.org/gric/ps/2001/01-16.html.

Basic research and applied research, which provide a significant share of federal support for several key science and engineering disciplines, both received significant increases in funding. Basic research increased 5.5 percent to $1.389 billion, while applied research increased 12.5 percent ($459 million) to $4.135 billion. The Advanced Technology Development line of the budget increased 11.4 percent ($457 million), for a total of $4.456 billion.

ASME has worked closely with the Coalition for National Research Security to push for an investment of $10 billion in fiscal 2002, a goal that was narrowly missed by the $9.98 billion total appropriated by Congress.

National Institute of Standards and Technology
The Council of Engineering's National Institute of Standards and Technology Task Force and the Council on Codes and Standards provided written testimony on the fiscal year 2002 appropriation for the National Institute of Standards and Technology to the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees. Copies of this testimony can be found at www.asme.org/gric/ps/2001/01-10.html.

Practically every year since its inception, the Advanced Technology Program run by NIST has been threatened with elimination. The ATP program provides matching grants to corporations for high-risk research. In its budget request, the administration proposed that all new grants under the program be suspended pending a review by the Department of Commerce, under whose jurisdiction NIST falls.

In its version of the appropriations bill, the House concurred with the president, claiming that the program had "not produced a body of evidence to overcome fundamental questions about whether the program should exist in the first place." As in past years, the Senate disagreed with the House, and provided a significant increase for the program.

But after the House-Senate conference committee in November, the House bowed to the Senate, and the program was increased 26.9 percent ($39.1 million), for a total of $184.5 million in new funds. Combined with carryover funds from last fiscal year, the program will have $217.6 million in fiscal year 2002.

While the administration attempted to suspend the ATP program, it requested a significant increase (11.3 percent) for the Scientific and Technical Research and Services budget, which funds the NIST in-house laboratories and the Baldridge National Quality program. In the final bill, Congress provided only a 2.9 percent ($9.2 million) increase, for a total of $321.1 million.

Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Engineering Division of the ASME Council of Engineering provided written comments on the fiscal year 2002 budget request for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Veterans Administration, Housing and Urban Development, and independent agencies. Copies of this testimony can be found at www.asme.org/gric/ps/2001/01-26.html.

The fiscal 2002 EPA budget, funded with the VA-HUD appropriations bill, would increase by 1.2 percent or $921 million to $7.9 billion, well above the EPA's requested cut to $7.3 billion. EPA's R&D would be funded at $632 million, 3.8 percent or $23 million above the
fiscal 2001 level.

EPA's R&D, mostly funded in the Science and Technology account, would total $632 million, well above both the request and the fiscal 2001 funding level. EPA requested a 6.5 percent cut in R&D to $569 million, mostly because the agency proposed, as it did in the Clinton administration, to eliminate dozens of congressionally designated research projects while keeping core research funding flat.

The final fiscal 2002 EPA budget would fund most R&D programs at the requested level, but would add nearly 50 congressionally designated research projects to the Science and Technology account and nearly 20 earmarked projects to the normally non-R&D Environmental Programs and Management account to bring fiscal 2002 R&D more than $63 million above the requested level and $23 million above the earmark-laden
fiscal 2001 level.

— Melissa Murray
ASME Government Relations

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