Congress passes eight-month Continuing Resolution

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate finalized a $463.5 billion Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund federal programs for the remaining eight months of fiscal year 2007. The president signed House Joint Resolution (H.J.Res.) 20 on Feb. 15. Final details for appropriations within each agency have yet to be finalized.

The CR was crafted by House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., and Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. Under the measure, most programs are funded by fiscal 2006 levels with increases to cover the cost of pay increases. Additionally, necessary adjustments were made to maintain staffing levels, avoid furloughs, and generally meet increased costs or workloads for agencies. Scientific research received several notable increases because of the strong support of organizations like ASME, and the coalitions in which it participates.

Specific proposed increases include the following:

• National Science Foundation (NSF): $4.7 billion, an increase of $335 million in NSF's research account to fund innovative programs.

• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): $50 million in new funding for physical science research and lab support for nanotechnology and neutron research.

• Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science: $3.8 billion, an increase of $200 million to support research, including new energy technologies like improved conversion of cellulosic biomass to biofuels.

• National Institutes of Health (NIH): $28.9 billion, an increase of $619.5 million to reverse a projected decline in new NIH research project awards and support an additional 500 research project grants, 1,500 first-time investigators, and expand funding for high-risk and high-impact research.

• Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Resources: $1.5 billion, an increase of $300 million to accelerate research and development activities for renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.

For more information on the continuing resolution, visit: http://appropriations.senate.gov. To view the entire text of the resolution, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app07.html.

 

Summary of the president's FY 2008 budget priorities for engineering and science

President Bush sent his fiscal year 2008 budget request to Capitol Hill last month. The $2.9 trillion budget request, which will be the subject of numerous appropriation hearings over the coming weeks and months, included the following macro-level requests for engineering and science mission agencies.

Department of Energy (DOE)

The DOE total request for fiscal 2008 is $24.3 billion, which breaks down as follows:

• $2.7 billion for the Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI), a 26 percent increase over the FY 2007 request. AEI's goal is to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources by promoting the development of cleaner sources of energy production.

• $1.24 billion for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, including funding for hydrogen technology, vehicle technology, biomass and building technology programs.

• $405 million for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a nuclear waste reprocessing and recycling program.

• $843 million to the Office of Fossil Energy to support research and development of low-cost carbon sequestration technology for new and existing coal plants, the Clean Coal Power Initiative, and the FutureGen project.

• $4.4 billion to the Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States.

For a more detailed summary of the DOE's fiscal 2008 budget request, go to www.doe/gov/print/4706.htm.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

The fiscal 2008 budget request for NASA is $17.3 billion, a 3.1 percent increase over the FY 2007 request, which breaks down as follows:

• $10.48 billion for Science, Aeronautics, and Exploration, which includes the directorates of Science, Exploration Systems, Aeronautics Research, and Cross-Agency Support Programs.

• $6.79 billion for Exploration Capabilities, including the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, and Space and Flight Support.

• $34.6 million for the Office of Inspector General.

For a complete compilation of NASA FY 2008 budget documents, go to www.nasa.gov/about/budget/.

National Science Foundation (NSF)

NSF has requested $6.43 billion, an increase of almost $409 million over the FY 2007 request. Included in that overall request are the following account-specific requests:

• The Engineering Directorate is requesting $566.89 million, an increase of 9.1 percent over the FY 2007 request.

• $750.60 million for Education and Human Resources.

• $5.13 billion for Research and Related Activities, an increase of 7.7 percent over the FY 2007 request.

• $244.74 million for Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction.

Detailed information on NSF's FY 2008 budget request may be viewed at www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2008/index.jsp.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The FY 2008 budget request for EPA is $7.2 billion. Of that amount, $549.5 is allotted for enforcement operations, an increase of $9.1 million over the FY 2007 amount. Among other key budget components are the following:

• $117.9 million for climate change programs.

• $44 million for Energy Star programs for commercial, residential, and industrial sectors to continue voluntary government/industry partnerships.

• $5 million for the Asia Pacific Partnership to support international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• $4.4 million for Methane to Markets to promote methane recovery and use at landfills, coal mines, and natural gas facilities.

• $123.8 million for Clean Air and related research.

• $10.2 million for Nanotechnology Research.

For additional information on the FY 2008 EPA budget request, go to
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/7c02ca8c86062a0f85257018004118a6/
36d36d92be7e68d4852572790066065c!OpenDocument.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

The FY 2008 budget request for NIST is $640.7 million and represents an 11 percent increase over the president's FY 2007 budget request. It breaks down as follows:

• $500.5 million for Scientific and Technical Research and Services.

• $8.1 million for the Baldrige National Quality Award.

• $6 million for the Enabling Nanotechnology from Discovery to Manufacture Program.

• $5 million for the Measurements and Standards for the Climate Change Science Program.

• $46.3 million for industrial technology services to support the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (No funding is being requested for the Advanced Technology Program).

For additional information on the NIST FY 2008 budget request, see www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/budget_2008.htm.

Department of Defense (DOD)

The president's FY 2008 request for DOD Science and Technology (S&T) accounts is $10.7 billion and is $311 million less than the FY 2007 request. The budget request for Research, Development Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) is $75.1 billion, $196 million more than the FY 2007 request.

Included in the overall request are the following account-specific requests:

S&T
• Basic Research (Budget Category 6.1) — $1.42 billion.

• Applied Research (6.2) — $4.36 billion.

• Advanced Technology Development (6.3) — $4.99 billion.

RDT&E
• RDTE Army — $10.5 billion.

• RDTE Navy — $17.1 billion.

• RDTE Air Force — $26.7 billion.

• RDTE Defense Wide — $20.5 billion.

• Operations/ Test/ Evaluation — $180 billion.

For additional DOD FY 2008 budget information, see www.dod.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2008/index.html#.

Global warming increasingly dominates Congressional debate

Climate change is quickly becoming a hot topic on Capitol Hill. Last month, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer opened up debate with a daylong "open" hearing in which senators aired their views on the subject.

The "Senators' Perspectives on Global Warming" session included testimony by four future and past presidential candidates urging mandatory action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including Sens. Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Barack Obama, and Joe Lieberman.

Sen. Boxer also recently wrote a letter to President Bush asking him to convene a summit among the 12 leading greenhouse gas emitting nations to discuss ways to reduce emissions.

In her letter to the president, Boxer wrote, "Today, the United States is the world leader in greenhouse gas pollution, but lags behind in controlling emissions and in pressing forward on world negotiations. Bringing these heads of state to the White House to deal with this serious threat to our planet would send a much-needed signal to the world that the United States of America is ready to once again set an example to the world."

More information on the hearing can be found at http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID
=5584be8e-802a-23ad-499a-ea3c20ff687d.

Information about the summit proposal can be found at http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Majority.PressReleases&
ContentRecord_id=9e4e58d3-802a-23ad-4c07-8012b4127416&Region_id=&Issue_id.

European Union establishes NSF-like organization to fund innovative research

The European Union (EU) has established a new organization to fund innovative research. The European Research Council, initially funded at $1 billion per year, is modeled after the National Science Foundation (NSF). It will operate as an autonomous scientific agency, providing research funding to individuals and teams from all EU countries.

The European Research Council will provide "new impetus to increase Europe's growth and competitiveness, recognizing that knowledge is Europe's greatest resource," according to its Web site. It will place greater emphasis on research that is relevant to the needs of European industry to help it compete internationally, and develop its role as a world leader in certain sectors.

For additional information on the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community (EC) for research and technological development for the period 2007 to 2013, see http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/home_en.html.

— Joshua Craft
ASME Government Relations

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