Determined to try to avoid the budget standoff which delayed funding for major programs for the current fiscal year, Congressional leaders are steadily churning out appropriations bills for fiscal year 2004 which begins October 1.

The goal is to pass at least half of the thirteen measures by the time Congress recesses for the month of August. The House started the process before the Independence Day break by approving spending bills for the Department of Homeland Security. DHS is set to become one of the major funding sources for federal research and development. The R&D portfolio in the House bill totals $1.1 billion.

The House Appropriations Committee approved its FY2004 defense spending bill on June 26. It provides a 10.4 percent increase over the current year for Department of Defense science and technology programs. Most notably, it allocates 3.2 percent of the bill’s total funding to S&T programs – in line with, in fact slightly above, the recommendations of the Defense Science Board and the intersociety Coalition for National Security Research. Within the S&T total, basic research (6.1 programs) would receive $1.43 billion, and applied research (6.2 programs) would be funded at $4.38 billion. A number of programs, including the University Research Initiative, would be devolved from the defense-wide 6.1 account to the individual services as requested by the President.

Federal obligations for R&D and R&D plant are expected to reach $103.1 billion in fiscal year 2003, according to the National Science Foundation’s annual Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development – a nearly 6 percent increase over FY2002. NSF reports that the FY2003 obligations represent a 3.5 percent annual growth rate (or average annual percent change) over the FY1990-2003 period. When adjusted for inflation, the annual growth rate over the same time period is 1.3 percent. The NSF report analyzes data for the six federal agencies providing the most funds – the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services (which includes the National Institutes of Health), NASA, the Department of Energy, NSF, and the Department of Agriculture. In FY2003, combined research dollars from DoD, HHS and NASA are expected to account for 73 percent of the total research money provided by the Federal government. Total research obligations are reported for eight broad fields of science and engineering in the survey: life sciences; psychology; physical sciences; environmental sciences; mathematics and computer sciences; engineering; social sciences; and other sciences, not elsewhere classified. A summary of the report is available online at http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/infbrief/nsf03321/start.htm

Nanotechnology continues to be a hot topic on Capital Hill. In May, the House passed a nanotech research bill, and in June the Senate Commerce Committee reported out its version of the legislation. The bills authorize similar new nanotech R&D programs, but differ in the details of how the overall program would be managed. The House bill calls for a new interagency committee, while the Senate gives authority to the existing National Science and Technology Council within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Another significant difference is that the House authorizes "Science and Technology Graduate Scholarship Programs" while the Senate bill contains no such provision. Also, the Senate bill authorizes $5 million for an American Nanotechnology Preparedness Center "to encourage, conduct, coordinate, commission, collect, and disseminate research on the educational, legal, workforce, societal and ethical issues related to nanotechnology." These differences are expected to be worked out in a Conference Committee after the Senate passes its bill, probably clearing the way for final Congressional action in the fall.

Before heading home in August, the House is expected to pass two bills designed to improve both the quality and quantity of math and science teachers in grades K-12. H.R.2211, the "Ready to Teach Act," would authorize funds to recruit and train teachers and create "centers of excellence" at "high-quality, minority-serving institutions." The bill includes an amendment by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) designed to link businesses with current and prospective teachers to provide them with clinical experiences including the use of laboratory equipment. The other bill, H.R.438, is designated the "Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act." It would expand to $17,500 the federal student loan forgiveness amount for elementary and secondary math, science and special education teachers in low-income areas.

In preparation for a possible new focus on legislation designed to enhance U.S. manufacturing R&D, the House Science Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards held a hearing in June at which Subcommittee Chairman Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) set the tone by warning that "We are in a potentially worrisome situation today, with the prospect of losing many different industries to foreign competition, together with their supply chains, and ultimately, our R&D." Witnesses and Congressmen at the hearing agreed that, while U.S. support for R&D is high in general, neither companies nor the Federal government spend nearly enough on R&D to support the development and commercialization of products and on improvement in the manufacturing process itself. A particularly colorful comment came from Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC): "Protecting and creating manufacturing jobs is critical to our standard of living for the next generation…Cutting vocational education at community and technical colleges is dumber than dirt when you think about the economic transition we need to make in this country."