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<b>Washington Update - Congress passes FY11 spending legislation<br>
April 15, 2011</b><br>
<br>
Yesterday, more than six months into Fiscal Year 2011, the U.S.
House and Senate approved FY11 spending legislation to fund the
operations of the federal government through September 30, 2011, or
the end of this fiscal year. In back-to-back floor votes, the House
passed the bill with bipartisan vote of 260 to 167 while the Senate
passed it by a vote of 81 to 19. President Obama supports the deal
and is expected to sign the bill into la<font color="#000000">w </font><font
color="#000000">today. </font> <br>
<br>
The spending bill was drafted this week based on a bipartisan plan
negotiated by President Obama, House Speaker John Boehner, and
Majority Leader Harry Reid, agreed to at the midnight hour on
Friday, April 8, and effectively averting an imminent government
shutdown. The bill cuts a total of $38.5 billion from both
mandatory and discretionary spending accounts compared to FY10
levels. Compared to other areas of the government, science agencies
are subject to small reductions, reflecting the restrained fiscal
climate, but also demonstrating bipartisan congressional support for
R&D. However, some specific cuts are significant:<br>
<ul>
<li><b>NSF</b> is funded at $6.874 billion, $53 million or <b>0.8%
less</b> than the level at which it was funded in FY10.
However, taking into account $53 million that was transferred
from the NSF to the Coast Guard in FY10 for icebreaking
services, <b>NSF is essentially being flat funded in FY11</b>. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>NOAA</b> is funded at $4.52 billion, $152 million or <b>3.0%
less</b> than the level at which it was funded in FY10.
Operations, Research, and Facilities is funded at $3.185
billion, $119 million or 3.6% less, and Procurement,
Acquisition, and Construction is funded at $1.335 billion, $23
million or 1.7% less. <b>Of <font color="#000000">note, </font><font
color="#000000">funding to keep the development of the the
Joint Polar Satellite System (formerly NPOESS) on track was
not </font><font color="#000000">appropriated for FY11. </font>
<strike></strike><strike> </strike>Development can be
expected to be delayed at least 18 additional months.</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>NASA</b> is funded at $18.485 billion, $239 million or <b>1.3%
less</b> than the level at which it was funded in FY10. The
bill removes restrictions on the human space flight program,
allowing NASA to move forward with its replacement of the
Constellation rocket development program as authorized in the
NASA Authorization Act passed this fall. <br>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>DOE Office of Science</b> is funded at $4.884 billion, $35
million or <b>0.7% less</b> than the level at which it was
funded in FY10.<strike></strike><br>
</li>
</ul>
In addition, the budget negotiations that led to the bill covered a
number of issues that are directly relevant to the scientific
community. In some cases, the bill includes new restrictions on
science agencies and/o<font color="#000000">r </font><font
color="#000000">the </font>President, and in other cases
restrictions were discussed by dropped in the final deal. Here's
what made it into the bill:<br>
<ul>
<li><b>NOAA is prohibited from establishing or implementing a
Climate Service in FY11.</b> As you know, NOAA has had plans
for more than a year now to create a Climate Service line office
that builds on current climate research capacities to provide
authoritative and timely climate information and other service
products to users who need help preparing for the impacts of
coming climatic changes. NOAA's plans will now have to be on
hold until Congress gives it the green light, either through
authorizing legislation or implicit authorization in an annual
appropriations bill. Funding for a NOAA Climate Service is in
the Preside<font color="#000000">nt</font><font color="#000000">'s
FY</font>12 budget request, so we expect this will be a major
topic of conversation as the FY12 budget process unfolds.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy (OSTP) are prohibited from working in any way with
China or Chinese companies without specific authorization
through a new law</b>. The restriction applies to any effort
to "develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement, or execute a
bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to
participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way
with China or any Chinese-owned company."</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Multilateral Assistance to the U.N. International Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) & U.N. Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) is capped at a combined level of $10
million.</b> For this item, the President had budgeted $12.5
million, and in FY10 it received $9 million and in FY09 it
received $13 million. In other words, even though our
contributions to these programs has been capped in the bill, the
amount is not far off from what our contribution has been in
recent years.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>The Administration is prohibited from paying the salary of
an Assistant to the President on Climate Change and Energy.</b>
This effectively precludes the President from rehiring someone
to fill Carol Browner's former position, a role that was known
inside the beltway as 'climate czar.' In that role, Carol
Browner worked closely with stakeholders and the last Congress
to try to shepherd climate change legislation through Congress.
Republicans criticized the position, along with several other
White House 'czar' positions, for not being subject to the
Senate nomination process or accountable to Congress in any way.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>NSF, NASA, and the Department of Commerce<font
color="#000000">, including NOAA, </font>are required to
submit spending plans to the House and Senate Appropriations
Committees within 60 days.</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Despite the insistence of House Republicans, no EPA policy
riders were successfully included in the bill.</b> This means
that for now the EPA will retain its authority under the Clean
Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases from stationary sources,
and the EPA is expected to continue to promulgate regulations to
that effect. However, as this remains a controversial and high
priority issue for some Members of Congress, Congress may <font
color="#000000">again take </font><font color="#000000">up</font>
this question regarding the appropriate scope of EPA's authority.</li>
</ul>
<br>
<br>
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