Research fares well in fiscal 2002 budget appropriations

At press time, only eight of the 13 appropriations bills had been signed into law, with notables such as Defense, Foreign Operations and Labor/HHS still in conference committee. Due to the events of Sept.11, the funding priorities have shifted in Congress and the administration.

To find out further information on the status of appropriations bills, go to the Library of Congress's Web site at: http://thomas.loc.gov.

The appropriated fiscal year 2002 budgets of two agencies, the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, are detailed below.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

In the final fiscal year 2002 VA-HUD bill (HR 2620; House Report 107-272), NASA will get $14.8 billion in fiscal 2002, $540 million or 3.8 percent more than fiscal 2001. This would be $282 million more than the administration's request of $14.5 billion.

NASA research and development, which excludes the Space Shuttle program and its associated costs, would total $10.3 billion in fiscal 2002, $343 million or 3.5 percent above fiscal 2001, well above both the request and the Senate plan, but below the $10.4 billion House total. Because the Space Shuttle program would receive a large increase, the total NASA budget of $14.8 billion would show a slightly higher increase (up 3.8 percent).

The troubled International Space Station is now projected to run more than $4 billion over budget during the next five years. Although the Space Station would receive nearly full funding, the conference report of the final VA-HUD bill expresses major concerns about the project.

The Science, Aeronautics and Technology (SAT) account, which funds nearly all of NASA's R&D not related to the Space Station, would receive $7.9 billion, which is 11.2 percent or $790 million above fiscal 2001. Nearly half of the increase would be due to the transfer of Space Station research to Biological and Physical Research (BPR), while much of the remaining increase would be due to more than $230 million in congressionally designated R&D projects.

Within SAT, the Aero-Space Technology program would rise 12.4 percent, or $275 million, to $2.5 billion. Much of the increase would be due to a boost from $272 million in fiscal 2001 to $465 million in fiscal 2002 for the Space Launch Initiative, which funds research and development efforts for reusable launch vehicle technology. There would also be $83 million for unrequested congressional earmarks.

Because NASA funds both space and aeronautics programs from this account, obscuring the precise NASA investment in aeronautics, the conference report instructs NASA to establish a separate aeronautics line in the next budget.

National Science Foundation

Congress has increased NSF's budget 8.4 percent ($373 million) to $4.8 billion. The administration had requested only a 1.3 percent increase. Of that amount, $3.6 billion will be allocated to the Research and Related Activities (RRA) budget line, an increase of 7.6 percent, or $256 million. Within the RRA budget, engineering programs will receive $468 million, a significant boost (8.5 percent) over the president's request of $431 million.

The fiscal 2002 budget for Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction, a new budget category, is $138.8 million. Although NSF requested $55 million for the Terascale Computing Program, appropriators provided only $35 million. Appropriators provided $12.5 million for initial construction of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array radio telescope (ALMA), even though NSF requested only $9 million.

The budget for the Education and Human Resources line will increase 11.4 percent, or $89.4 million, for a total of $875 million. The Math and Science Partnership program to improve science and math education will receive $160 million of NSF's requested $200 million.

— Melissa Murray
ASME Government Relations

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