WASHINGTON NEWS
FROM THE FEDERATION OF MATERIALS SOCIETIES

 NOVEMBER 6, 2002

ELECTION EFFECT AND LAME-DUCK OUTLOOK

How the shift to Republican majorities in both the House and Senate will affect issues relating to science, engineering and technology remains unclear as Congress heads into a lame-duck session.  The most popular early guess is that new “continuing resolutions” will be passed to keep the government operating at fiscal year 2002 levels until sometime in late January or February, with action on FY2003 appropriations bills postponed for action by the new Congress.  Republicans will take over committee chairmanships in the Senate and new members will have to be assimilated in both houses, so the SET community will be working hard to educate Senators, Representatives and their staffs on the importance of federal investment in R&D and education.  Because of party seniority and other rules, few surprises are expected in SET leadership positions.  One defeated member who will be missed, however, is Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD), called by her colleagues “the angel of NIST” and a strong and reliable supporter of SET legislation for many years.

NSF DOUBLING HITS SNAG

In a case of the best-laid plans gone astray, legislation to double the authorized funding for the National Science Foundation was quietly laid aside as Congress adjourned its regular session.  As reported earlier, the House and Senate each passed similar legislation putting NSF on the path to a doubled budget over the next five fiscal years.  For several weeks, staff members from the House Science Committee, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee worked out differences between the two bills and readied the compromise for what was supposed to be quiet passage under “unanimous consent” by both houses.  At the last minute, however, a “hold” was placed on the bill by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) at the behest of the Office of Management and Budget.

OMB reportedly objects to the use of the word “doubling” in the title of the legislation, and more fundamentally objects to an authorization that extends over five years (this despite the Administration’s support of the five-year doubling mandate for the National Institutes of Health, begun under the Clinton Administration).  Staffers also cite objections to the bill’s “Tech Talent” provisions and language granting the National Science Board more independence from NSF.  Staffers continue to try to work out these hurdles so action can be taken in the lame-duck session in December.  Otherwise, the authorization process will have to start over again in the new Congress.

NEW LAW FOCUSES ON MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

On Election Day, President Bush signed into law the Enterprise Integration Act, authorizing the National Institute of Standards and Technology to work with manufacturing industries to support the development of standards for information exchange and use these standards to ensure the seamless flow of information up and down the supply chain.  NIST is directed to involve its laboratories, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program, and consortia that include government and industry in the process.  For each major U.S. manufacturing industry, NIST is to work with industry, trade associations and professional societies to identify all enterprise standardization and implementation activities underway, and  to assist in the development of roadmaps (to be based on voluntary consensus standards) to permit supply chains to operate as an integrated electronic enterprise.  Technical and financial support would be provided to small and medium-sized businesses that set up enterprise integration pilot projects.

NSF TEACHING LEADERSHIP CENTERS

The National Science Foundation has announced its investment in five new Centers for Learning and Teaching to increase the numbers, professionalism and diversity of K-12 math and science teachers, and higher education faculty who prepare future teachers.  The new centers – at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington University in St. Louis, and the Universities of Wisconsin, Washington, and Georgia – will receive an estimated $10 million each over the next five years.  Individual efforts in the K-12 component of the program range from development of new math and science curricula, to instructional materials and professional development of teachers.  The higher-education component will provide for coordinated efforts in research, faculty professional development and education practice at colleges and universities.  More information is available at http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/esie/programs/clt/clt.asp

NEW FEDERAL R&D REPORT

The long-awaited analysis of federal investment in R&D prepared for the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has been released by the RAND Science and Technology Policy Institute.  The analysis, “Federal Investment in R&D,” does not make policy recommendations but rather is a distillation of statistics from the National Science Foundation, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and other sources.  It underscores, in the words of PCAST member Erich Bloch, the fact that “A review of the lat 25 years of $&D funding shows the rather large changes in the areas supported.  There are not only changes between defense and civilian R&D caused by changes in the international political climate, but also rather large shifts in funding among science and engineering disciplines, such as the physical and life sciences.”  In his introduction to the report, Bloch identifies declining or stagnant human resources in science and engineering as the “paramount” issue for PCAST.  The full report is at http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1639.0/